


He's so warm...

by yanniwrites



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Boys In Love, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, Games, I Tried, Imprisonment, M/M, Role-Playing Game, Video & Computer Games, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-10 16:07:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 41,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7851952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yanniwrites/pseuds/yanniwrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his retainers have been captured by Nohrian soldiers, Prince Takumi decides to let them imprison him, instead of them. The young Nohrian Prince and leader of the adversarial troupes, Leo, hears out his request and takes him to Windmire in order to question him about Corrin's whereabouts. However, soon things turn out differently...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The good will of the adversarial prince

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to all the people who have already read my first work on this site. I hope you will be able to enjoy this small series. Sorry, I'm still not able to structure it correctly, so please bare with me. I'd be glad, if someone could tell me how to structure it correctly.

They both had always been very caring. At first it only felt like they had to be, because they were his personal retainers, but throughout the past few years, he felt like they had become dear friends. Still, it wasn’t their duty to protect him and sacrifice themselves in return.

 Seeing Hinata’s worried face, when he dragged him away from the battlefield was a nightmare. He might have been wounded, but he could still fight; he had to. It was only the three of them and some soldiers and he couldn’t possibly leave Hinata and Oboro alone against the overwhelming Nohrian troupes.

Takumi dragged himself along a wall as he tried to get back to the battlefield. He held his injured arm that one of the Nohrian soldiers had shot with a bow. His breath was heavy, but he couldn’t possibly leave his retainers out there alone.

Hinata had basically picked him up and taken him to a run-down restaurant, outside the destroyed city. Escaping from there wasn’t hard at all, but when he got back into town, the pain started to pierce his body again. Still, he couldn’t turn back like a coward now. He at least had to save Hinata and Oboro. Hopefully it wasn’t already too late for them.

Suddenly, he could hear voices. He leaned against the wall and tried to make them out.  
“What should we do with them now, Odin? The boy took the little prince with him, so we shouldn’t kill him, should we?” a male voice asked.

“I don’t know. I think we should wait for Prince Leo to decide,” another one said. Takumi slightly leaned forward to take a look at what was happening. Hinata and Oboro were lying on the ground, both being enamored. Two men stood in front of them; one with blond hair and another one with white hair.  
The white haired one was the one who had shot him. He squatted down to Hinata and pulled his face up.

“You know, if you’re cooperative and tell us, where you brought your master, we might have mercy on you and will not kill you,” he said in a melodic voice. The brown haired didn’t answer. Takumi couldn’t see his face, but it seemed like he didn’t even react to him. The white haired man exhaled, but let go of him. “These Hoshidians are rather tough, huh? I don’t think we can get anything out of them,” he stated.

“Of course you won’t! We’re not going to rat out our lord to scum like you!” Oboro shouted at him. The white haired man smiled at her. Then he pulled out a little knife and pulled her face up. Slowly he let it run over her face without cutting her.  
“You know, you’re a pretty girl, but you’ve got a bad mouth. If you keep on talking like that, you might not survive until Milord Leo gets here,” he told her. Takumi’s eyes widened. He loosely laid his hand on the bow, ready to shoot, if it was necessary. His arm might have been injured, but he was still able to do as much.

“Niles, what are you doing?!” another male voice was audible. A young, blond man appeared from behind a house. The white haired man, called Niles, let off of Oboro and turned to him.

“Milord, you’re here. Lucky for her,” he stated as he got up.

So, this was Prince Leo of Nohr. He was younger than expected.  
Takumi assumed him to be his age, but he couldn’t be too sure.

Prince Leo crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked down at Oboro and Hinata. “Who are they? Hoshidians? Why didn’t you just kill them?” he asked in a cold voice.

“They’re Prince Takumi’s retainers. The boy took him somewhere when he got injured and we’re trying to get it out of them,” the other blond man told him. Leo slightly looked at him, before his gaze went back to the Hoshidians. He mustered them calmly, but then turned his back to them.  
“Give it up. They would rather die than tell us where he is. He’s not our main target anyway,” he said.

Niles slightly sighed. “But, Milord, don’t you think he could tell us where your beloved brother is?” he asked, making Leo exhale annoyed.

“Like I said, you won’t be getting anything out of these two guys. However, we don’t need to, either. We can search the area. If the boy has come back, that means that he can’t have brought him very far away from here. We don’t need these two; just kill them,” he said calm.

Takumi’s eyes widened as he heard him. By instinct he drew the bow. Niles had started smiling, when his Lord told him he was allowed to kill them. He picked up a sword and reached back.  
Before he could strike, Takumi fired the arrow.

The white haired let the sword fall to the ground and held onto his hand, groaning in pain. Unfortunately, he couldn’t aim as well as he would have, if he hadn’t been injured. The blond man and Leo looked into his direction as he fired another one at the blond man.

He dodged it slightly, but got injured at his arm. He sunk to the ground, while holding it. “Shit! Milord, run! It’s an ambush!” he shouted.

Leo remained silent and merely looked into his direction. “Will you come out, or should I drag you out by force?” he asked calm.  
Takumi inhaled as he fired another arrow at him.  
The adversarial Prince shielded himself with magic. Shit! He should have seen that coming.

The pain in his arm got worse again.

Leo whistled acknowledging. “No ordinary arrow, it seems. But of course, it’s not the arrow that’s so special. It’s the bow, am I right, Prince Takumi?” he stated calm.  
So, he knew about him… It was quite a shame that he even knew about his weapons; especially because he didn’t know anything about him.

Slowly, he stepped out of his hideout. He let the Fujin Yumi fall and raised his hands. Oboro and Hinata had turned around to him and stared at him with shock in their eyes.  
“What are you doing here, Milord? You’re not supposed to be here! W-why didn’t you just run?!” Oboro shouted, before her voice broke up. She had tears in her eyes that started streaming down her face as she turned away from him.  
“W-why… why do you care so much about us?” she sobbed.

Takumi didn’t answer; he didn’t even look at her, but merely at the young prince in front of him. “Please let them go. This has got nothing to do with them. You wanted me, right? I won’t try to fight you; you can just take me along, but please let them go instead. They wouldn’t be of any particular use to you guys anyway, would they?” he asked him in a calm manner.

“No, Milord, you can’t mean what you’re saying! Don’t be ridiculous!” Hinata shouted, but just like with Oboro, he tried not to listen to him.

Leo’s gaze went from him, to his retainers, to his own fellows. Then he sighed soundly. “Very well. Odin, untie them, please. Niles, can you use your hand?” he asked. The white haired still held onto his bleeding hand, but nodded. “He hasn’t shot right through it, so I’m fine,” he mumbled. Leo nodded.

“Good, then, treat his injury before you tie him up,” he told him to. Takumi exhaled relieved as he stepped away from his retainers in order to get closer to his enemies. Niles kept a little bit of a distance to him, but still treated his injury without complaining.

As the man called Odin had freed Hinata from the ties, he handed them to Niles so that he could tie Takumi's hands together.

The young Samurai looked at him with pain in his eyes. “Milord,… why… did… why did you come back for us?” he asked sobbing.  
Again, it felt easier not to answer that question.  
“Please look after Oboro. You know how to get back to Corrin, don’t you?” he asked smiling.  
Hinata nodded as his face went down.

Hopefully, the portal would still be open. Usually Lilith closed it right away again, but if they weren’t there, Corrin might want to let it open, so that they could come afterwards; he was that kind of person. He could only hope.

“So, you do know, after all, where he is. I assume Camilla and Elise are with him as well. Can you confirm that?” Leo asked as he heard him.  
Takumi didn’t answer him. There was no reason to talk to him; neither would he rat out Corrin to this man. Leo slightly frowned as he realized that he simply wouldn’t talk to him, but then started smiling.“You don’t want to talk to me? Fine with me. We’ll have plenty of time getting it out of you later,” he noted relaxed.

Oboro had been untied by now. She sat beside Hinata, while looking to the ground just like him. The blond prince mustered them for a while, before getting up and pulling Takumi with him.

“Well then, we’ll be leaving. Farewell, you two. You better don’t forget that your Lord has been sacrificing himself for you,” he told them.  
Oboro started shaking and jumped up. “M-Milord! No! Please don’t take him, Leo-sama. Take me instead!” she begged with tears in her eyes, but the Nohrian Prince didn’t even look at her. It must have been hard for her to beg a Nohrian and even call him by a ‘sama’ suffix. She shouldn’t go this far for him.

He sighed slightly. “Hinata,” he said, which made the brown haired grab her and pull her back to the ground, so that she wouldn’t be able to make a move.  
“You’re not even half as valuable to us as your Lord is. Just appreciate your life that he has saved and don’t throw it away for such a dumb reason,” Leo stated in a cold voice.

Even though, it might have sounded cruel, what he said was only true. It was as if he wanted to help them understand Takumi’s way of thinking when he had offered his life to them. It was unbelievable how much this guy actually understood him. Before they went off, Leo slightly winced and turned around one last time.  
“Ah, Niles, take that pretty bow with you,” he demanded his retainer to. The white haired got it up, before picking it up and following them.

Oboro lay in Hinata’s arms crying. It was painful seeing her like this; especially if he considered that it might have been the last time that he had seen them, but this was for the best.

 

They went out of the destroyed town. In front of the town’s walls three horses were tied to a tree. Leo untied one of them and turned to him. “Can you get up by yourself?” he asked. Takumi nodded calm. The adversarial prince slightly bowed appreciatively symbolizing him to get on it. The grey haired did as he was told, while the prince’s retainers got on their horses. Leo sighed slightly.  
“Okay, please make some room so that I can fit on there as well, Prince Takumi,” he asked him to.

What? Was he an idiot?! They were two grown men; there was no way they would both fit onto one saddle.

He tried making room for him by getting further to the front edge of the saddle. The blond quickly got up. By instinct, Takumi got slightly further to the edge, but as Leo took the rein in one hand, he pushed his upper body to the back, so that he would lean against him.  
“Are you fine?” he asked. The young Hoshidian exhaled to calm himself, before he nodded.

The blond sighed amused, before he got going. Just as expected, the ride was rather wobbly, since he practically had nothing to hold onto, except for the edge of the saddle between his legs. Leo kept pushing him to the back so that he would lean against his chest and rested his hand on his chest. It was a rather unpleasant feeling, having this man’s hand remain on his body, but on the other hand, that was the only feeling of security he had on this ride.

Suddenly, he felt a little ruck, which made him instinctively grab to the back onto Leo’s trousers.  
The blond chuckled slightly. “Are you afraid?” he asked.

Well, he certainly didn’t feel secure.

He shook his head and let go again. Leo pressed him a little stronger against his chest.

“You don’t need to be. She’s a good girl. She’ll stop once she feels that you fall,” he stated. Takumi raised an eyebrow as he turned around to look at him. The blond smiled a soft smile and pointed at the horse.

“Her name’s Melissa. She’s from Hoshido, so you could be getting along well,” he stated laughing. Takumi looked down on the horse. Then he looked back at him. “How did you get a Hoshidian horse?” he asked. Leo smiled.

“My brother went buying her with me, when I was a kid. We went to a small town called Umachi, I think. They specialize on horse breeding. That was before the conflicts between our kingdoms became so severe. A young woman even helped us choose, even though we clearly looked like Nohrians. She was beautiful and kind. Thinking about it, your way of talking to your retainers was similar to hers; so warm and kind,” he told him peacefully.

Takumi inhaled deeply, before grabbing onto the saddle. When he heard him mention Umachi, it made him think of his mother. She used to love going there and would occasionally even help people choose horses best fitting to their characters. Hinoka seemed to have picked up that talent from her. She was good with animals as well.

Unfortunately he didn’t pick up a lot from Queen Mikoto unlike his siblings. Corrin certainly had her kind heart, even though he hadn’t even grown up with her, but there wasn’t a lot he could think of that he had of her; maybe because she wasn’t his actual mother.

However, it had always felt like that to him.  
Crap! Again, he let his weakness have a hit on him; and that in the worst of all times.  
He was practically facing the enemy here and that enemy seemed intelligent enough to see right through him.

“Why are you saying such a thing?” he asked as calm as he managed to be. Leo remained silent for a while, but then asked: “What do you mean?”

This guy shouldn’t play dumb. He practically praised the enemy’s people. For what? He certainly didn’t seem like the type of person to let the enemy get to him. “Don’t play dumber than you are. You’re talking about my people as if we have never been enemies. You’re being so nice to me. I wouldn’t have expected you to hear out my request. What are you up to?” he whispered in a hostile manner.

He hated to admit it, but it was true that this man was fairly kind. He certainly gave off a crueler aura than what his actual character was like, yet still, it was hard seeing though him, so he had to be careful.

“There was no reason for me not to hear out your request. After all, you just wanted to protect your retainers. I can understand that. Moreover, I wouldn’t have gained anything from killing them,” he justified himself.

Takumi blushed and looked down to his hands.  
What was he saying? It sounded like he was fooling him. He should just be glad that they were safe.

“Milord, we’re there soon. Shouldn’t we walk the rest of the way so that your father doesn’t see us like this?” Niles informed him, making Leo nod calm.  
“You’re right. Thank you, Niles,” he said, before stopping Melissa.

He got down and before Takumi could even attempt on getting down by himself, he lifted him down from it as if he was a girl. The grey haired blushed deeply.  
“Wha-what are you doing?” he stuttered embarrassed.

The blond prince smiled amused. “You’re light. Are you sure you’re eating enough?” he asked chuckling.

Then he forced him to the ground. He turned to his retainers.  
“You guys take care of the horses. I’ll take him inside. Maybe father will have mercy on you guys when I tell him that you merely didn’t kill him, because I told you not to,” he stated. Then he looked at him, but quickly back at his subordinates.

“But if not, please run for it. Try to find Corrin…” he stepped closer to them and whispered something to them. “Understood?” he finished calm. The two men nodded silently, before they parted their ways.

Leo pulled him along as they approached a big city.It seemed so dark and cold around here, which sent chills down his back. He clenched his fists in stress. Leo, who had walked in front of him, while guiding him, now pulled him to the front and took his hands.

“Relax. You don’t need to be afraid of anything. That’s Windmire; the capital of Nohr. It might look cold from the outside, but the people are actually no different from your people. They just want the war to end and live a peaceful life, just like you guys,” he stated reassuring. For some reason his words soothed him.  
Still, it was so humiliating that this man looked right through him. He didn’t even have to look at him to sense his unease.  
And now his words and warm voice reassured him so much. That just wasn’t right. He shouldn’t feel so protected around the enemy. Soon they entered the city. Leo casually walked through the crowded streets, where people already started looking at them.

“That’s Prince Leo; look! I haven’t seen him out here in the streets in such a long time.”  
“Yeah, he’s grown up to such a fine young man; how admirable!”  
“Look at the pretty young man who’s with him. He looks like a foreigner. Do you think he’s from Hoshido?”  
“Do you think he’s from the Royal family. But is it possible just catching a Royal from Hoshido? They haven’t been able to achieve anything against them throughout the last few months and now that? Who could he even be?”  
“By the way, don’t they look way too close for being enemies?”

Takumi tried to blink out what they said, but stating that they seemed close, made him want to punch them.  
Still, he couldn’t lose it here.

It was just a little humiliating that they didn’t even know him as a prince of Hoshido, but that was to be expected when he had to live his life in his brother’s shadow. Leo paced up and pulled him along.

“Don’t listen to them. They don’t know a lot about Hoshido, so of course they only have heard of your big brother,” he said. It sounded as if he wanted to cheer him up with his words. He nodded calm.

The blond pulled him along closer to the castle where the crowd thinned out. Two knights stood in front of the huge gate to it, but merely bowed when they saw Leo. “I see you’ve fought a victorious battle; you were even able to make a prisoner. That was to be expected from such a great talent like you, Milord Leo,” one of them stated happily.Leo sighed annoyed, but didn’t answer and merely pulled him inside.

The inside of the castle was amazingly big and wide. The whole floor was covered with a red carpet and the walls carried pictures of young women and the children of the house.  
As they walked by, he realized that there were free spaces that clearly had carried pictures before.  
He just assumed that it had been pictures of Corrin, Camilla and Elise that got taken down, when they left the castle.

Soon, they arrived at another big door that seemed like the entrance to a throne room. It was just before that door that Leo pushed him to the ground, so that he had to kneel, before knocking the door.

“Ah, Prince Leo, you’re back,” a male voice resonated from behind them. Takumi slightly turned around to look at the person.

A tall man with rather long black hair wearing a weird mask on the right side of his face and pale skin stood there smiling at them. He was certainly dangerous; at least he seemed like that. Leo mustered him in a hostile manner.  
“Oh, you’ve even made a prisoner,” he stated as he realized that Leo wouldn’t react to him. He stepped closer to them and pushed Takumi's face up.

“Ah, the little prince, it is. Nothing less to be expected from you, my dear Lord. The question is just: why didn’t you kill him and dragged him here instead?” he asked in a melodic voice.

Suddenly he started groaning and quickly let off of him, before his body started trembling. The grey haired looked up at Leo, who had paralyzed his body. “Don’t touch my prisoner, Iago. There are reasons as to why I didn’t kill him and they certainly don’t regard you. I’m going to talk to father about this,” he replied in a cold voice. Then he pulled Takumi up and entered the room.

King Garon sat on his throne, while smiling in a calm manner. As he saw his son, his expression changed. “Welcome back. I see you’ve brought someone with you. Haven’t I told you that you’re not supposed to imprison anybody anymore?” he scolded him.

Leo exhaled as he took Takumi’s collar and threw him to the ground. “I know, but he’s the Prince of Hoshido. We might get information out of him about the whereabouts of Corrin or even Prince Ryoma. Do you understand father? He might be the key to our victory,” he explained calm.  
He might have seemed awfully nice to him before, but it was about now that he probably showed his true character.  
How idiotic of his to think that Prince Leo had been nice to him, because he was a kind soul.

King Garon mustered him from a distance. “I don’t need this scum in my castle. Kill him now,” he demanded. Takumi inhaled. He had expected as much. It was good that it was him here and not Oboro or Hinata. At last he had been able to save two lives, just like Ryoma. He should be proud of himself.

Leo looked at him, before sighing soundly. “Father, I don’t think that’s the best conclusion. Please give me some time; maybe a week. If I can’t get anything out of him after a week, I will follow your request,” he asked. The old King glared at him, before his gaze went back to Takumi. “I don’t care about Corrin. He’s no threat! Soon the whole world will be mine and there’s nothing he can do about it,” he replied in an amused voice as he got up to approach them.He pushed Takumi’s face up with his foot, before kicking against his chin, causing him to groan silently.

“Father, please think about it. Wouldn’t it be better to let Corrin feel how powerless he is against us, by demonstrating to him our superiority? If we get anything out of this one, we will be one step ahead of Corrin, but if we don’t, we will execute him and show Corrin in return that he can’t even protect one person. How does it sound?” Leo suggested calm as a sadistic smile appeared on his face.

King Garon narrowed his eyes, before slightly smiling. “Very well. But it’s the last time I let you do this,” he said. The blond bowed appreciatively, before dragging him along with him. He pulled him out of the throne room, before blindfolding him.

Then he pulled him along without saying a single word to him. It started feeling awfully cold at some point and the only thing that reassured him was actually Leo’s warm hand that still held his own, not once letting go. Even though his fate was basically sealed, it still calmed him a little that it was Leo to accompany him.

 

He heard a creaking sound, before Leo let go of him and removed the blindfold. He pushed him into a small cell. Then he untied his hands and cuffed them behind his back.  
A fairly long chain went along the floor of the cell, which was also the thing that held him here.

Takumi looked at the young prince in a hostile manner. “I guess you’ve had this in mind from the start, right?” he asked.

The blond smiled calm. “Of course I had. It was a little harder than expected convincing my father, though, since he keeps on becoming more and more insensible every day,” he stated giggling.

Two knights suddenly entered the cell. “Prince Leo, we’ve come to help you to get him to talk,” one said. Leo sighed, but didn’t protest against it, even though he didn’t seem particularly happy about it. “Now, Prince Takumi, will you tell me about Corrin or Ryoma?” he asked.

Takumi turned his face away from him, making him chuckle. “You’re back to not talking to me just like before, huh?” he noted, before getting closer to him. He pushed his face to him. “Well, I have plenty of time, but you don’t. Don’t you want to talk so that you have a slight chance of surviving?” he questioned.

Even if he told him anything, the outcome would be the same. There was no way King Garon would let him get out of this castle alive. The grey haired inhaled, before spitting in front of his feet. Leo didn’t react, but one of the knights quickly grabbed his collar and punched him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground.

“How dare you do such a thing, you little Hoshidian scum!” he shouted as he picked him up and reached out for another strike. Leo rapidly paralyzed him just like he did with the man called Iago.

“I don’t recall allowing you to lay a hand on him,” he said in an equally cold voice as before. Then he stopped the spell and the guy fell to the ground sweating. “Next time you act without my permission, I won’t have any mercy on you,” he stated as he turned back to Takumi.

He let his finger run along his jawline, which made him blush deeply. Why did his touch make him feel so flustered? “You know where Ryoma is, don’t you?” he asked calm.

He didn’t.  
The last time he had seen him was when Oboro, Hinata and him got imprisoned by that Zola-guy. Later Corrin got him out of there, but in total, that was the last time he had seen his brother.

He leaned against the wall and exhaled. Leo tilted his head.  
“I see. You don’t want to talk about Ryoma. Then how about Corrin? I know you know where he is; you’ve stated it before,” he questioned further. Takumi looked to the ground. He knew where he was, but it was tricky getting there without a portal and if the portal was already closed, it was hard opening another one, unless a dragon was with them. It was only likely that it was already closed. After all, even Corrin should understand when it was hopeless and in Takumi’s case it certainly was hopeless. He would never come back anymore. He could only hope that Hinata and Oboro had at least made it there, before they closed it again.

“I don’t even know if he’s still there,” he stated scantly. That didn’t seem to satisfy the adversarial prince at all, but he had expected as much. “And where exactly was he before?” he asked annoyed.

The grey haired tilted his head and smiled a cold smile at him. “Why would I tell you? I’m not such a coward,” he hissed, making Leo chuckle.  
“You’re not? Letting your retainer drag you off the battlefield once you’re slightly injured, sounds quite a bit like a coward to me,” he noted calm.

Takumi’s body started shaking.  
No matter how nice he had been before, that all vanished in here step by step. He knew that he seemed pathetic. Beside his siblings, he would just never seem any better, but it hurt hearing him say that. He bit his lip.

Leo was intelligent. He certainly had figured out already that his last remark hit him hard. All he could do now was keeping his cool, so that he at least wouldn’t show his weakness in front of the knights.

He relaxed his muscles and sunk his head. It was a better idea to think of a way to get out of here, since he knew that there was no possible way he’d get out of here whether he cooperated or not. Leo sighed annoyed and got up.  
“I see, you’ve already given up on your life, haven’t you? That’s just like a coward,” he stated.

Takumi slightly looked up at him. “Do you really think so? Whether I cooperate with you or not, the outcome will the same, won’t it? Or is it that you actually believe your insane father to have mercy on me once I cooperate? I can tell you he won’t. Once I tell you anything, he will see no use in me anymore and kill me, so I’ll try to live as long as I still can,” he replied, making Leo slightly turn to him. He exhaled, but left the cell. “You guys, get out of there!” he demanded the two knights to. They quickly followed their Lord and closed the cell behind them.

Takumi closed his eyes and lay down on the hard floor. The tears he had been able to hold back up until now started filling his eyes. It hurt. It hurt so much. He always knew that he was no match for his siblings, but hearing it from a practical stranger made so much more present.

 

Throughout the following days, Leo kept on coming to his cell trying to get some information out of him. For some reason he never physically hurt him, which was weird. It seemed like such a common thing in Nohr to torture someone to get a piece of information out of them, so the question was: why didn’t Leo do it? Well, he might have also been one of the rare subjects that preferred the mental torture, in which he seemed to be very good.

Takumi tried to think of a safe way to escape the castle, before his last day would come, but unfortunately, the only way he had come up with was rather risky. He would have to escape the castle on the day of his execution. It would certainly become hard to strike down the guard that escorted him, but that was the only way he had.

“Today’s your last day. You still don’t want to talk?” Leo asked as he came in carrying a small wooden tray with some food on top of it. He didn’t answer. Just like the past days, he tried avoiding looking at him.

The blond sighed. “If you cooperate with me, I can get you out of here. You’ll be able to escape and get back to Corrin,” he told him calm. There was no sense of sensibility in such an empty promise. Even if he got him out of here alive without his father noticing, they would soon come after him and intrude the portal to attack Corrin and the others.  
What was the use in telling him then?

“Do you really desire to kill your brother that much? I haven’t grown up with him, but the only person I ever experienced having such a kind heart, apart from him, was his mother. I can’t believe that you, someone who should know his kindness even better than me, actually wants to kill him just because his insane father tells him to. Am I really the one that is pathetic here, or is it actually you?” he mumbled.

For a while, Leo didn’t react, but then Takumi felt an awful pain in his limbs, which made him hunch on the ground. He slightly looked up to him to see him hold his hand over him that carried a certain magical force, which pained his body so much. He gasped as the pain intensified. The injury on his arm seemed to have opened again, but not only that, the pain had spread through his whole body and seemed to cause other wounds. Tears started filling his eyes. Suddenly, it stopped and he felt a hand on his neck, which pushed him against the wall.

“How dare you say that! You have no idea how we’ve lived, before you came, you bastards. He’s my big brother, not yours. You just took him away from us; you took him away from me! Do you really think I want to kill him? You’re so low!” he grunted as he intensified the grip on his neck.

The grey haired could hardly breathe anymore and tried to put up a fight, but with his hands bound to his back, there wasn’t a lot he could do about it. He was crazy strong, especially because he didn’t look it at all. He started coughing and looked at him begging. “L-Leo…” he pressed out in a weak voice. Leo’s eyes widened, but quickly he let go.

He looked to the ground, while mumbling curses. Then he looked back at him. “Are you going to stay with not telling me about him?” he asked as if nothing had happened. Takumi nodded. Leo looked at him with a pained expression.

“In that case you’ll have to prepare to die,” he told him, making him nod again. He leaned back. There was nothing he could do anymore, not like there ever had been. Now, he could only wait for tomorrow. If anything went wrong tomorrow morning, he would be dead meat. Leo left the cell. This was probably the last time he had seen him. He lay down and closed his eyes. He should be happy. He had rescued someone and he had even helped out Corrin; at least he liked to think he did.

 

Someone jolted him. Was it already time for his execution? He didn’t feel like he had slept enough. Striking down the guard might become even harder now. He opened his eyes to see Odin, who freed him from his shackles.

So, this guy would become his guard. He seemed rather airheaded, but he certainly was not to be underestimated. If he was one of Leo’s retainers, he had to be strong. Takumi would have to be careful. Odin pulled him up. “Can you walk?” he asked, making him nod drowsily. He was more tired than expected; how unfortunate.

“Good,” the blond said as he pulled him along without enamoring him at all. It might still become easier than expected. However, the situation was weird. He didn’t lead him out of the castle, but instead went further inside. Odin had only grabbed his hand and pulled him along. This wasn’t the typical behavior that you would expect from a guard guiding a condemned man to the execution.

“Don’t worry, I’m getting you out of here,” Odin said after a while of silence.  
Takumi raised an eyebrow, but perhaps he should wait, until he found something that could be used as a weapon. They went deeper and deeper into the basement of the castle, until they reached a huge underground drain that seemed to serve the whole castle. Judged by its size, that was only likely.

Niles stood in a corner waiting for them. “Has anybody seen you?” he asked, making Odin laugh loudly. “You must be joking, my dear fellow. There’s no way my dark soul can be sensed by an ordinary man,” he stated.

Niles sighed, but nodded it off. It seemed that he was used to him talking like that. Then he handed the blond a brown cape. “Just put this on and behave quietly from now on,” he demanded, before going back to the corner, where a chest stood. He opened it and got out Takumi’s Fujin Yumi, along with a quiver and some arrows. He handed the bow to him, while taking the arrows for himself. The young prince partly looked at his weapon and Niles.  
What was with this situation? Why did these two try to help him?  
There had to be something behind it.

“Relax, we’re not going to hurt you in any way. We just happen to have to flee the castle just like you and you might know a good hideout,” the white haired noted as if he had read his mind, which only made him more suspicious of the situation. Was this their strategy to getting to Corrin? It certainly sounded like one, but it seemed rather weak. He took his bow, before putting on the cape. He turned his gaze to Odin.

“And you think I’m going to lead you there?” he asked chuckling. “I’m not an idiot. This is a trap and not a very thought-through one. Your Lord has come to the conclusion that this is the fastest way getting to Corrin, right?”  
Niles exhaled, before turning to his colleague. “What should we do? Should we tell him the truth?” he asked seriously clueless. Odin merely gave off a laugh.  
“I don’t see a reason not to! He’s our ally now and on top of it our Lord has grown really fond of him,” he stated as he got closer to him.

“You’re right with what you say. Prince Leo wants you to lead him to Corrin. Since you refused to cooperate with him, he couldn’t get you out of the castle by himself, so we had to go for this plan. In a few days, he’ll be with us in our hideout,” he explained, which only made him raise an eyebrow. They had to be stupid, if they thought that he would lead them anywhere near his brother.

Niles sighed again. “Odin, you make it sound like we’re targeting him,” he told him, making the blond wince in shock.  
“W-w-w-w-what?! B-b-b-b-but that wasn’t in the least my intention!” he shouted before grabbing Takumi’s shoulders.

“We’re really not targeting him!” he tried to tell him. This man didn’t seem like the type of person to think before he speaks, but that was what made him seem so truthful as well. Takumi turned to Niles, who had sat down on the chest.

“Would you mind explaining yourselves, then?” he asked, making the white haired chuckle. “You’re quite sweet. You don’t need to talk like that to us,” he said. Takumi sighed. It was as if they didn’t even want to tell him anything, but in that case they shouldn’t expect him to lead them anywhere. Niles got up. “Now then, let’s go, before anybody realizes that you’re gone and starts searching the castle,” he said calm.

Without a word, he followed the two men out of the castle, always ready to shoot, if they decided to pull any tricks. Unlike the day he had come here, they didn’t get out straight through the city, but through some kind of underground district, which seemed a lot more lively than the actual town aboveground. Nearly everything seemed to be sold here. It went from weapons, to food, to flowers.

However, a lot of the things seemed like goods that King Garon wouldn’t want his people to have. But not only that; in the main part of the city, they would have looked suspicious with their brown capes, whose hood they had pulled over their faces, but here it seemed pretty normal to wear such a thing. Neither did it seem suspicious in any way that all of them carried weapons with them.  
Niles had a bow with him as well and Odin carried a rather big bag that could have held anything, but no one even cared. He was able to relax a bit for the first time. He followed Leo’s retainers out of town to a tree, where three horses were bound to. It was a similar scenery to the day he had been brought here. Tense he looked at them.

Melissa was among the horses as well. Niles quickly untied her and led her to him. He looked at him confused, which made him smile. “What is it, sweetheart? Still suspicious of us? Even though Prince Leo borrows you his favorite horse?” he asked amused.  
There was no reason not to be. They still hadn’t explained themselves. He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You still haven’t given me a reason to trust you,” he stated. The white haired giggled amused.

“You’re cute. No wonder Prince Leo has taken such a liking to you,” he noted avoiding what he said. Then he looked at his colleague. “Milord is not as heartless as you might think he is. He never planned on attacking his brother. Actually, he wanted to cooperate with you, so that he could find him. He tried getting any information out of you about his whereabouts, but you’re a lot more strong-willed than he had expected you to be, so we had to switch to this plan,” he explained calm. It all still sounded rather fishy and it still didn’t give him any reason to trust these men, but at least he talked.

“Since the both of us have failed to kill you and your subordinates back at the battlefield, King Garon holds a slight little bit of a grudge against us, so we have to flee as well. Milord has suggested making it look like we’ve freed you, so that we look like traitors. It’s a lot simpler than fleeing this place with him anyway. After all, he’s the prince and since the two princesses have already betrayed him, King Garon watches his remaining children all the more. Our Lord doesn’t plan on killing Corrin-kun; he never did. He’s actually willing to help him, but he needs your help with it.” Takumi deeply looked at him. He didn’t seem to be lying, but on the other hand was he sure that this man was good at lying without anybody noticing it.

Slowly he turned his gaze to Odin. He certainly wasn’t as good of a liar as Niles. He might have believed them, if it had been him who had told this story. However, there wasn’t a lot he could do about them following him.

He sighed. “Fine, I shall take you along…” he noted as if it had ever been his choice to make, resulting in Niles’ and Odin’s faces lightening up. “So, you believe us, Milord Takumi?!” Odin asked overly excited. The grey haired glared at him.

“Don’t call me by my first name. I don’t believe you, but neither can I prevent you two from following me, so this might be easiest. However, if I ever notice you pulling any dirty tricks, I won’t hesitate to kill you,” he said quietly. Niles whistled acknowledging, while Odin started laughing.

“You’re admirable, Milord Takumi. Having such a cute and pretty face, while possessing this dark soul is so amazingly admirable,” he shouted. The Hoshidian prince sighed, but didn’t try to tell him off a second time. He was able to sense a hopeless case.

Then he took Melissa’s rein, before getting up. He looked to the back to make sure that both, Odin and Niles, were ready to go.

Then he started riding. “You two ride in the front,” he told them to. It was safer for him to have it this way. Like this, he should be able not to be attacked by them from behind. Like that they would lead him out of Nohr as well. He wasn’t even sure about the whereabouts of the portal, but if it was still near the Bottomless Canyon, it shouldn’t be hard to find; in case it even was still there.

 

They rode for quite some hours, just to get away from Windmire. Even though Niles kept on riding in the back, unlike he had told him to, he got more and more relaxed.

“How far are we away from the capital now?” he asked as he got down from Melissa. Niles looked into the direction they had come from. “About 15 to 30 kilometers, I think,” he stated. Then he looked at Takumi.

“By the way, Milord, are you aware of the fact that we’re heading to the Bottomless Canyon? It’s pretty dangerous around there,” he told him. The grey haired nodded calm. He was aware of that, but he wasn’t quite sure how to reach it from here. “Yeah, I know that more or less. Please guide me there,” he asked them to. Both their eyes widened.  
“A-are you sure about that? H-have you ever been there?” Odin asked stuttering.

All of a sudden, his way of talking changed to a simpler one. The young prince sighed. “Yes, please take me there. He’s there,” he mumbled, making Niles groan. “Are you luring us into a trap?” he asked suspiciously. Takumi deeply looked into his eyes. “I’m not. If I were to lure you into a trap, I would certainly look for a safer place than that. Corrin’s hideout had been eastern from it, so we have to go there,” he explained.

The two seemed to relax a bit, before both sighed. Niles looked at him seriously. “I don’t mind, if you lure us into a trap, but I am going to kill you, if you do anything to our Lord, understood, pretty boy?” he said threatening.

Takumi nodded. He knew well enough that he wasn’t able to fight Leo. He wouldn’t be able to even scratch him; of that he was sure. He might not have spent a lot of time with him, but he knew very well that he was strong. And up until now, he hadn’t even shown him all he got. There was no way he would be able to beat him.

He got up on Melissa. “Shall we continue?” he asked. The two older men got up without a word. For the first time, they seemed more serious than usually. “Milord, about thirty kilometers away from here, there’s a little inn. Would you like to go there and stay for the night?” Niles asked him.

Takumi looked at him slightly confused. Had he really asked that? It almost made him seem like he was concerned for his well-being. He nodded slowly, before telling him to guide the way. They rode about the rest of the day, until they reached the inn.

Unfortunately, the landlady told them that they didn’t have enough rooms for all of them anymore, so she suggested them to all stay in the same room or the stable. It wasn’t particularly hard to make a decision, especially because even the stable seemed a lot cleaner than the rooms.

“Say Milord, how come you’re okay with this whole situation? Aren’t you, as a prince, supposed to be used to higher standards than this?” Niles asked as they got ready for the night. Takumi didn’t look at him.

Of course he was used to different standards, but it was war, so he couldn’t always expect to get the best possible treatment. Moreover, he didn’t want to show any kind of weakness in front of these guys.

“I’m fine with this. By the way, you don’t need to call me ‘Milord’,” he mumbled as he lay down in a pile of straw and hay, closing his eyes for the night. It was hard sleeping that night. Not only that the straw and hay was rather uncomfortable, but it was also very cold.

 

In the middle of the night, the whole environment seemed to get restless. It wasn’t like he had been able to sleep a lot anyway, but it became awfully uneasy around. He started hearing noises that seemed to come closer.

Slowly he opened his eyes. He looked up to see Odin in a dim light. He held a book in his hands from which he seemed to cast spells.

Slowly, he realized that he was actually fighting someone. He looked past him to see Nohrian soldiers attacking him. He was so drowsy that he didn’t understand what was going on at first, but slowly he even realized that they were talking. One of the soldiers looked at him and laughed.

“Now you’ve woken him up! Doesn’t he need his beauty sleep?” he said ridiculing. Odin turned around to him. His face got a rather dissatisfied expression.  
“I sincerely apologize for disturbing your sleep, Milord. I tried not to, but these intruders are a lot tougher than…” before he could finish, Takumi pulled him to the ground.

The knight had attempted an attack. It was more by instinct than by sensibility that he helped him, but Odin stared at him half appreciative, half disbelieving. The grey haired quickly groped for his bow, beside his ‘bed’. He slightly leaned to the back, so that Odin’s body, which was still laying over him, wouldn’t restrict his sight. He landed a clean shot through the knight’s chest, who immediately sunk to the ground. Takumi quickly aimed at the others. It wasn’t particularly easy to land shots as accurately as he would have landed, when he hadn’t practically been lying on the ground, but he was able to kill them, so he didn’t care in his tired state.

Odin first looked at the soldiers, before turning his face at him with an equally incredulous look on it.

“Wha-wha-wha-what kinda insane bow is that?!” he shouted. Then he slapped his hands in his face as if he had forgotten something. “Gaaaah! I-I mean: of what demonic origin is this powerful weapon you carry, young Prince?” he then asked in an embarrassed manner.

Takumi raised an eyebrow, but then pushed him down from himself. Odin looked to the ground, before turning his face up to him. “Are you well off?” he asked almost shy. The grey haired grabbed his collar. “Stop fucking with me! This has always been an ambush, hasn’t it?! Where’s Niles? I’ll kill the both of you,” he threatened him silently, but then the blond mage held his hands up in the air as if he wanted to reassure him.

“No, it’s not like that, Milord. I swear I didn’t know anything of that, either. I can’t believe someone managed to track us!” he defended himself. Takumi looked down on his body. He was injured pretty badly, which could indicate that he was speaking the truth.

“Where’s Niles?” he repeated his question from before. Odin winced, but looked to the door of the stable, which was the source of the dim light. The moon was bright tonight, so it lit up the stable quite a bit. “He went out to get bandages for me. They really caught us napping. I’m glad they attacked us first and not you,” he looked to the ground before mumbling: “I think Milord Leo would kill us, if anything happened to you…”

Suddenly an arrow flew by him only centimeters away from his face. Odin gave off a shocked sound, before grabbing his book. Niles stood in the doorway. He had a rather stressed look on his face. A pile of boxes that stood in the corner, Niles had shot at, collapsed and another soldier’s body fell to the ground.

Then he got closer to them. “You missed one, Odin,” he stated in a scolding voice. The blond looked to the ground embarrassed. “I-I didn’t kill the others… Prince Takumi did…” he murmured, making the white haired sigh.

“I’m not gonna tell Prince Leo, if you have actually managed to keep him unharmed,” he stated calm.  
Takumi got up. “It’s okay. I didn’t get hurt,” he answered. The white haired looked down his body, before exhaling relieved.

“I’m glad you’re not, Milord,” he mumbled. Then he pulled Odin closer and forced him to sit on the ground, so that he could treat his injuries. “They’ve landed quite some hits on you, huh? But at least you’ve defended the Prince. That’s our priority,” he stated as he treated the wiggling mage, who didn’t seem as dark as he tried to indicate all the time anymore. “Milord, would you mind preparing the horses? We have to leave this place as soon as possible,” he asked him to. The young prince did as he was asked to.

He knew that if Leo actually wanted to follow them, they had to have laid tracks for him, but they should certainly not be of the sort that everybody would identify as tracks. It seemed rather suspicious. “What kinds of tracks have you laid for Prince Leo?” he asked. Niles sighed.

“Actually they should have been of the sort that only Milord would identify, but I assume these guys have followed us all along. I feel ashamed of myself that I didn’t notice them in the slightest,” he noted pissed off. Then he looked up to him.

“I’m sincerely sorry, Milord,” he mumbled. He got up, while pulling Odin along with him. “C’mon, we have to flee this place as soon as possible. I don’t want to risk endangering Prince Takumi and Corrin-kun,” he demanded in a strict voice. The blond looked at him in a pained way, but then got up on one of the horses without any complaints. Niles looked at the bodies, before sighing. “I think we could just throw them in the river,” he noted more to himself than to his fellows. Then he pulled one of the knights with him and turned to Odin. “C’mon, help me,” he commanded. Takumi picked one of them up as well.

“Please let me help, too,” he asked them to. The white haired didn’t look happy about that request, but he didn’t try to act against it. It was a lot faster like that anyway. When they finally managed to dispose of the bodies, they quickly rode further into the direction of the Bottomless Canyon. Hopefully, no one would be insane enough to follow them there. After all, across it, the territory of Hoshido started already. It was cold, which only made riding even harder. He was tired and the cold was actually the only thing that kept him awake.

 

When the sun set they finally reached their destination. They got down from the horses and led them through a small path which led to the other side. Even though horses were usually not that comfortable with a situation like this, Melissa was still as calm and nice as ever.

“Milord, how far is it from now on?” Odin asked as they finally reached the other side. Takumi looked south. If the portal was still open and at the same place where it was a week ago, they would have to head south.

“Hm… if we canter, we could make it in an hour or two,” he estimated. It wasn’t like the portal was far from here, but the question was whether the horses could still take it. Niles thought for a while and looked north. “Well, enemies don’t seem to be around, so that wouldn’t be anything that would hold us up,” he stated calm. Takumi looked at Melissa, before stroking over her head. “Will it be fine with the horses?” he asked unsure.

The white haired smiled at him. “You’re cute. You really care for Prince Leo’s horse, don’t you?” he asked amused, making him blush. That wasn’t it. He just never dealt with horses, so he wasn’t sure of anything regarding them. He sighed. “If it’s okay with them, let’s go then,” he mumbled silently. He got back up onto her.

“Listen, you guys, I don’t know how these soldiers have just found us, but it only confirms my skepticism about your story. Are you aware of that?” he said in a cold voice. The both of them exhaled stressed. “I’m sorry, Milord. I don’t know how that has happened. I thought we’ve been silent enough in the castle, but it seems like we weren’t. I can only hope that they haven’t understood how I’ve laid the tracks,” the white haired apologized ashamed.

Then he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I’m sincerely sorry. I know it doesn’t make us look very trustworthy. What can we do now to get you to believe us?” he asked after a while. Takumi sighed.

If the situation hadn’t been so difficult, he would have been able to believe them right away. He actually regretted not believing them, but he wasn’t in a position to let his guard down. He already did something that he found amazingly difficult to do by guiding them to Corrin. He would never be able to forgive himself, if it all turned out to be a trap and he had been the one responsible for it.

He started riding. The day had started with cold temperatures, but throughout it, it became warmer. He was still tired, but the thought of getting to a place he could call home, reassured him. After about one and a half hours, he could see the portal from a distance.

It was still there.  
That made him happy on the one hand, since Corrin seemed to have waited for him all this time to close it, but on the other his feelings about this situation and Leo were still mixed. He got down from Melissa and stepped closer to it, while Odin and Niles kept a distance to him.

As they got closer, he turned around to them, who had started hiding behind a tree. He raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to be?” he asked. Niles smiled amused.

“I could ask the same question. What is that?” he asked mistrusting. The grey haired sighed.

“It’s a portal to the Astral Plane. This is the hideout,” he explained calm, making Niles slightly get away from the tree. However, he quickly hid again. “Ah… well, we’re still seen as enemies and we don’t really want to go there and look like intruders. So, I think you should go first and inform them about us,” he said laughing.

Takumi rolled his eyes. “You look a lot more suspicious, if you hide behind a tree, instead of coming in. Just get out of there and come with me,” he demanded annoyed. The two slowly stepped out of their hideout and got closer to him. They entered the portal, which immediately transported them into the Astral Plane. It wasn’t long until they were discovered.

“Ah, it’s Takumi-o-nii-chan! He came back and he’s safe! I told you!” he heard Elise’s voice. Shortly after that, he felt her hug him. He looked down to her and instinctively laid his hand on her head. “I missed you,” she said happily, making him smile softly. She looked up cheering. “But I knew you would come back, when Oboro-chan said that it was Leo who had taken you along,” she noted triumphant.

Quickly a crowd formed around them. Most stared at him disbelieving for even coming back, while others just mustered his company in a mistrusting manner.

From a distance, he could see Sakura and Hinoka running towards him, followed by Corrin, who smiled satisfied. His little sister immediately hugged him as she started to cry, while Hinoka leaned against his shoulder looking really relaxed. “I’m so glad you came back. I wouldn’t have been able to bare that again,” she stated almost sobbing.

Even though she smiled, she seemed to have had a rough time as well, but just didn’t want to cry in front of Sakura. “I see you’ve brought some friends with you,” Corrin stated after a while. He turned around to look at the two Nohrians.

“Yes, they helped me escape. However, I’m not sure, if we can fully trust them,” he said. Niles, who had looked around this surreal place up until now, chuckled. “It’s such a shame that mistrust us, Milord. Milord Leo has grown so fond of you, it will sadden him to hear that you still don’t trust his retainers,” he said in a melodic voice as he got closer to Corrin. He bowed and kissed his hand.

“My name is Niles. I’m one of Prince Leo’s retainers. This is my fellow, Odin. Just like me he’s a loyal retainer of Milord. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he introduced himself. Corrin slightly blushed, but quickly snapped his hand back.

Odin bowed as well, before grabbing his hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet the legendary son of the two adversarial kingdoms; the chosen one to bring peace to both our countries!” he stated, receiving a confused expression.

“Where is Leo?” Elise suddenly asked. Niles inhaled deeply as if he didn’t even want to tell her.

“He wanted to follow us afterwards. If everything goes right, he should be here in about two days. However since we were attacked by Nohrian soldiers, who had followed us, on our way here, it is likely that they have laid misleading tracks,” he explained sober.

Elise’s happy expression changed to a scared one. She turned to Corrin. “H-he’s going to be alright, isn't he? I-I mean, it’s Leo!” she wanted to make sure.

“Rest assured,” Camilla’s voice resonated. She stepped to her sister and hugged her. “Of course he’s going to find this place. He’s so intelligent; there’s no way he’s not going to find us,” she said calm, which seemed to soothe her little sister.

“Camilla is right. You have to believe in him. You know exactly he can do it. We just have to keep the portal open a little longer,” Corrin said, making her nod slowly. Takumi looked to the ground. “Please get a room for these two. They fought for my sake, so they’re injured,” he asked his brother to as he slightly nodded towards Niles and Odin. Their faces lit up.

“You finally trust us, Milord?” Niles asked like he had before so many times already. Takumi looked at him with a sharp gaze.  
“Not by 100 percent you, but you’ve been willing to risk your lives for me, so I might consider it,” he replied, making them both smile happily.

“You’re a lot nicer than you seemed at first,” the white haired stated, receiving a grunt. “As soon as you’re both treated, you better go look for my retainers and apologize to them. Then I might consider trusting you,” he said as he went off. Corrin and his sisters followed him shortly afterwards.

“Listen, I know you’re not feeling comfortable around the Nohrians, but I can only tell you that I know Leo well enough to know that he would never do anything to harm us. It’s not only me, who’s here, but also Camilla and Elise. He would never hurt his sisters. We can trust them and we can trust Leo, too,” he explained.

Takumi remained silent. Corrin knew him better than he did and if he had to be perfectly honest, he didn’t feel threatened around him, either, but it might have been this feeling of uncertainty that sent chills down his back, once he thought about him.

“I, too, think we can trust them,” Sakura suddenly said, which made her siblings look at her disbelieving. She winced slightly as she realized.  
“I-I mean, they’ve accompanied you here and you’re not injured at all. They must have kept enemies away from you. Odin-san is injured worse than Niles-san, but his hands have carried bruises all over, as if he had shot arrows all the time,” she explained stuttering.

Takumi’s eyes widened. He hadn’t even realized that, but it was likely that when Niles laid the tracks, he was shooting enemies from afar as well. He was always the one that rode quite a distance behind them, so he couldn’t see what he was exactly doing all the time.

Suddenly he could see Oboro from a distance running towards him. Without a word, she embraced him and, similar to Sakura, started crying. “M-M-Milord… Milord, I’m so sorry,” she stuttered before her voice broke up. She clawed her nails into his kimono. Her bitter tears and cries, made him feel rather helpless. It felt like he couldn’t reassure her in any way. He laid his arms around her and pulled her closer.

“Oboro, calm down. I’m fine, you can see that, can’t you?” he said silently. Then he slightly pushed her away from him, while his hands remained on her shoulders. He smiled at her softly. “I’m glad you’re fine. You shouldn’t get so upset because of me. I’m good, so relax!” he told her reassuring, which seemed to actually calm her down a little. She wiped her tears, while still sobbing. “I-I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

He sighed stressed, before looking at Corrin and Hinoka, who both smiled. “You’ve been missed. I really tried to tell her that there was no way you would die, but she wouldn’t believe me,” he stated amused. Oboro slightly looked at him. “Tha-that’s because Prince Leo seemed so cruel…” she murmured.

“Well~ that’s Milord Leo for you. He can be such a faker; always trying to make people believe that he’s a heartless monster,” Niles’ voice was audible. Takumi slightly turned around, while laying his hand on Oboro’s head as if he wanted to shield her. She peeked at him as if she was afraid of him. Then she started trembling.

“It’s you!” she shouted. Takumi looked down at her to see that her facial expression had changed to an angry one. “It seems like forever, doesn’t it, sweetie,” he greeted her. She furiously pushed Takumi away and walked up to him, before grabbing his collar. “This is your entire fault. Why… just why didn’t you take me along, but Milord instead?!” she shouted at him.

“Oboro!” Takumi raised his voice, making her shut her mouth. She turned around to him.

“He’s accompanied me here, so please treat him with respect. He’s treated me with a lot of respect as well,” he stated, which made her let off of him. Niles’ smirk got brighter. “You trust me? How come; the sudden change of mind?” he asked.

Takumi groaned annoyed. “After all, you saved my life. I’m grateful to you. And my sister has told me that you were actually the one to protect me the most on our way here,” he noted. The white haired tilted his head in satisfaction. Then he turned to Sakura. Just like with Corrin, he kissed her hand.

“You have my thanks, Princess Sakura,” he stated. Quickly Hinoka pushed his hand away from her and pulled her closer, which resulted in a smile of his.

Then he turned his gaze to Oboro. “I actually just wanted to apologize to you about what happened. Please forgive me,” he said, making the blue haired female stare at him in confusion. “Ah… thank you. If Milord managed to forgive you and even trusts you, I shall do that, too,” she said stuttering. Corrin started smiling.

“You guys are way too formal with each other. We’re friends now, so just stop talking like that,” he asked them to. Then he turned to Takumi. “We can trust Niles and Odin. They’re good guys; I feel it,” he said, making the white haired laugh. “You’re really cute, Milord. I’m anything but a good guy,” he stated, before going off while his gaze rested on him.

Corrin looked to the ground as he walked by, but then looked up to his brother again. “Don’t you want to see Ryoma again? He’s joined us some days ago,” he stated. Takumi’s eyes widened. He was here; and safe? Thank god! He nodded without a word, before following him. Oboro and his sisters remained by his side as if they were afraid to lose him again.

They entered the communal room, where Ryoma sat at the table talking to Hinata. As they came in, Hinata, who had rested his head on the palm of his hand, looked up and slowly got a rather straight stance. He stared at him incredulous.  
“Milord…” he mumbled like in a trance.

Ryoma, whose back had been facing him up until now, turned around as he heard him. His eyes widened as he saw him. “Takumi… I thought…” he stuttered. It was the first time, he had ever seen his, all so collected, brother so speechless. He slowly got up and stepped closer to him.

“I’m glad to see you here, brother. I was really worried about you, when I got separated from you back then, but just as expected from you…” he couldn’t finish, since Ryoma embraced him tightly.

This had happened so often in just the last few minutes already, but it seemed so utterly different when his usually so calm brother actually got emotional. He slowly raised his arms to lay them around him as well. He started shaking. It was just now, that he realized he had actually been afraid that he would never see his brother again. He laid his head on his chest.

“I’m… so happy to see you,” he whispered in a shaking voice. Ryoma pressed him against his chest. “I couldn’t sleep one night, since I came here and heard that you weren’t here anymore,” he replied just as silently as him.

For a moment, they remained in this stance, but after a while, they let go of each other. They sat down. Hinata started laughing. “It’s so absurd how you’ve actually seemed to have been right, Milord Corrin,” he stated. Corrin laughed as well. “I told you Leo would act like that. I can only hope he finds this place,” he said in a hopeful manner.

“He surely will,” Camilla, who had, along with Elise, entered the room just now, said. They both sat down facing the Hoshidian siblings. The violet haired female smiled softly.

“Niles was talking about how Leo seemed to have liked you. Thinking about it a little more, makes me think you’re actually quite his type. Don’t you think so as well, Elise, Corrin?” she asked laughing. Her sister nodded enthusiastically, while her brother laughed.

What were they talking about? He wasn’t anybody’s type. Leo didn’t seem like the type of person to fall for a guy, either. They were just imagining; they had to. Ryoma started laughing as well.

“Well, our Takumi has always managed to enchant people of all sexes,” he stated, making him blush. Hinoka laughed happily. “Do you remember the boy from that village? Just one soft smile of his and he melted. He followed him around an entire week,” she recounted.

Takumi looked to the ground in embarrassment. It wasn’t like that. After all, he was part of the Royal family; he was probably just fascinated by him. It wasn’t a crush he had felt for him; of that he was sure. “Of course Leo would fall for you. You’re so cute, but strong-willed at the same time. He totally likes that,” Camilla added laughing, causing his blush to deepen. This was so embarrassing. He was pretty sure Leo didn’t like him at all. He had really pissed him off the day he had left. Understandably, since he seemed to have really hurt him.

He shook his head. “I wouldn’t be so sure about something like that. I didn’t get the feeling that he liked me at all. I said quite some hurtful things, too, I think,” he stated silently, making Camilla sigh amused.

“He’s always been like that. He’s such a tsundere. He really can’t tell people when he likes them,” she giggled. Elise nodded just as amused as her sister. “Instead he’s so cold towards them, but since he decides to be occasionally nice, no one understands his feelings for them. That’s such a shame,” she added laughing.

Camilla now looked at him as she rested her head on her hands. “Come to think of it: how has he treated you? I bet he’s even brought you food,” she asked interested. Takumi looked to the ground. Elise was right that he had been rather nice to him.

“Yeah, he’s been the one to visit me in the cell. He tried to get me to tell him about this place, but I when I didn’t, he would just feed me the food he had brought,” he told them. The two Nohrian princesses gave off a high scream as they hugged each other.

“Oh my god! Have you heard that, Camilla?! He’s fed him!” the blond shouted. Her sister nodded excited. “He has to have fallen for him at first sight, other than that he wouldn’t even dare to get so close to him! That’s so cute,” she raved. Then they both took his hands and looked at him with pink cheeks and glowing eyes.

“The moment I saw you, I knew you would be the perfect match for Leo!” they shouted in synch. Then they let go and screamed the high screams again. Takumi blushed deeply, but then quickly looked to Ryoma, who smiled satisfied.

“S-say something, brother!” he asked him to, but he merely smiled at him amused.  
“But you seem to have really enchanted him,” he stated laughing. “Just as expected from our brother,” Hinoka added.


	2. Girls' talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prince Leo arrives at the Astral Plane; unforeseenly with his brother Prince Xander and his retainers. Unfortunately, due to the large amount of new allies, the rooms in the main buliding seem to have run out. In purpose of celebrating the newly formed alliance, Prince Ryoma and Prince Xander decide to share rooms, while their little brothers have to get along with the plan as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is chapter two. I actually got some comments on my last chapter, which really made me happy, so thank you. I was told that Odin's language was not very Odin-like, so I looked up the game in English and researched some Shakespeare. I hope I was able to improve it (hahaha I bet I wasn't). It's a little harder than expected, since English is not my native language; please don't hate me. T_T  
> Anyway, thank you for reading.

The following days were almost torture. Camilla and Elise kept on coming to him, asking him about how Leo has treated him and what they’ve been talking about. It was a fact that he didn’t only try to ask him about Corrin’s hideout, but when he talked to him, it wasn’t about anything relevant. He just told him things like that he should better talk, so that he could get him out of there. And he just kept on feeding him, which was more than humiliating, but whenever he talked about him, they became happy and started screaming in satisfaction.

They had even started telling him things like: “Please don’t break his heart! Leo can be very sensitive.” and “At least try to like him. He’s really caring; you won’t regret giving it a shot.”  
All these statements only made him think more about Leo than he already did, which he hated more than anything else in the world. It only made him feel flustered and he couldn’t understand his actions anymore.

However, of course those two weren’t the only ones to talk about that subject. Niles and Odin almost casually sprung onto that topic as well. While it seemed like Niles just wanted to tease him by slipping condoms in various sizes into his pockets, Odin seemed a lot more passionate about it, reciting passages from Nohrian Theater plays about love and the act of making love.

Surprisingly, Nohr had a lot of Theater plays about love between two men. Well, perhaps Odin just intentionally picked them.

To startle himself and to flee from Camilla, Elise and Leo’s retainers, he had started taking care of Melissa. After all, she was being a really nice horse. Hell, he had even asked Kaden and Hinoka what products to use for her fur and what best to feed to her.

With the time, she started getting used to him casually brushing her fur and feeding her, which really made him happy. Whenever, he was tired of Camilla’s and Elise’s comments, Niles’ teasing and Odin’s poetry, he would visit her. It was easy relaxing by her side.

Perhaps, he shouldn’t have taken care of exactly Leo’s horse in order to calm down, but he just couldn’t think of anything better. She was the first animal that actually seemed to like him.

 

Takumi sighed, as he lay down on his bed, reading a book. It was hard chilling out with Camilla and Elise around him all the time. They seemed to have gotten Hinoka like the thought of her brother liking another man as well, since she had started asking about Leo, too.

He assumed that the two Nohrian princesses just missed their brother, so they would ask about him to make sure that he was alright, but of course he couldn’t tell them, either. However, he couldn’t think of a reason to why his own sister would ask him about that subject as well.   
She should sense that it wasn’t a very pleasant subject to him. Suddenly, he heard voices from outside. Since he unwillingly had spent so much time with them the past few days, he could figure they were Elise’s and Camilla’s.

“They’re here! Leo is here and Xander, too! They came together!” Elise shouted overly happy.   
Suddenly, someone opened the door to his room. The person pulled his sleeve so that he had to get up. “Come on! Don’t you want to see Leo again?!” Elise questioned happily as she pulled him along.

Actually no! He didn’t want to see him again; neither did he want to see the crown prince of Nohr himself. However, before he could even try to protest, he already got dragged outside. She pulled him along to where they had arrived. Corrin and Camilla already greeted them.

Along with Leo and Prince Xander two other people had come; a girl with blue and pink hair and some extreme make-up and a young man with grey hair and a soft smile on his face. Elise still pulled him there. Then she let go and ran up to her brothers. She hugged Prince Xander happily.

“You’re here! I’m glad Leo could convince you to come along!” she cheered. The tall blond slightly bowed down to her and laid his arms around her as well, while a soft smile formed on his face. After a while, she let go and hugged Leo. “I knew you would come!” she raved happily. Camilla closed her eyes and smiled peacefully as she leaned against Prince Xander’s chest.

“Haaah~ now we’re reunited again; just like the family of Hoshido,” she noted calm. The blond looked at her asking, but then let his gaze wander around the Astral Plane. Then it remained on him.

“You’re Prince Takumi, right? Would you mind coming here?” he asked surprisingly polite. He looked around as if he expected him to talk to somebody else. Then he walked up to them. He bowed slightly, even though his whole body rebelled against it. He knew he should accept him as an ally, but too much had happened between their kingdoms to make him let his guard down easily around this man.

Prince Xander’s aura was similar to Ryoma’s, but of course it still was intimidating. The Nohrian prince exhaled.   
“Ah… you don’t need to do that. Please raise your head,” he asked him to. He looked up to the tall man, before looking at Leo, who had turned his face away from him. The crown prince giggled. “You really are as pretty as Leo has said,” he stated, causing him to blush. His brother turned to him with a red face.

“B-Brother!” he spouted out, but then quickly turned his face away again. Prince Xander slightly coughed.   
“However, I actually wanted to thank you for guiding us here. I appreciate that you trust us; especially because my little brother seems to not have treated you very nicely and didn’t even tell you what he had in mind,” he stated laughing.

Takumi shook his head. “It’s fine. Prince Leo has actually been very attentive,” he mumbled. Camilla chuckled.

“You guys are way too formal; especially you, Xander. No wonder everyone is intimidated by you. You’re not only serious, but also scary. If you keep that frown, it’ll stay,” she said as she poked her finger between his eyebrows, before turning to her little brother.

“You too, Leo. Shouldn’t you look happier, now that you see your beloved sisters and your brother again? But instead you frown and look around this place as if there was anything dangerous to you. What is it? Do you want to avoid looking at anything?” she scolded him.

Leo blushed, but didn’t answer. “It is a rather unreal place. Where are we even?” he asked avoiding.

“In the Astral Plane; a place where dragons used to live a long time ago. However, Lilith is the only one left,” Corrin explained scantly. Leo raised an eyebrow. “Lilith? You mean our Lilith; the girl that has looked after you as a maid in the castle?” he asked, which made him nod.

“That’s right, Milord. It is me,” Lilith suddenly said as she practically appeared out of nowhere. The blond slightly winced as he saw the small animal in front of him.

“Aw, she’s so cute!” the blue haired girl raved, before grabbing her and cuddling her. The Astral Dragon tried to fight her, but also seemed to enjoy getting petted. “Perri, please stop that. It’s disrespectful,” Prince Xander told her to.

“Where are Niles and Odin?” Leo asked all of a sudden. Camilla sighed, but quickly started smiling.

“Takumi-kun can show you,” she said alluring, while winking at him. The grey haired blushed, but glared at her. Leo looked at him, before exhaling annoyed. Then he started to walk. “Are you coming?” he asked, making Takumi’s eyebrow twitch. He really was a jerk.

It wasn’t in the least understandable how Camilla and Elise came to the conclusion that he actually liked him.   
“How are they? Have they protected you well; you’re not injured or anything?” he asked after a while. Takumi turned his gaze away from him.

“Yes, I’m fine. They were both really protective over me,” he answered, making him nod calm.

For a while, they both didn’t say a word. It was weird; just like he had expected it to. They just wouldn’t ever become friends. “Thank you,” he mumbled slowly. Leo looked at him as he raised an eyebrow.

“Excuse me?” he said. Takumi looked up with a serious expression. “Thank you,” he rephrased.   
“Thank you for freeing me and for sending your retainers along, who protected me and even got injured and for lending me your beloved horse,” he explained further, before looking back at the ground, which made Leo chuckle.

“It was my pleasure,” he answered in a melodic voice. The grey haired looked to the side.   
“Your sisters have missed you. Since I came back, they kept on talking about you to me,” he told him quietly. The Nohrian winced and almost groaned.

“Oh god! Please don’t tell me Camilla has talked about how cute I was as a child…” he complained embarrassed.

He wished it was that. The past days, what Camilla and Elise wanted to mainly tell him the most was what a wonderful and fine, young man their brother actually was and tried to convince him that he should at least try to get to like him. They entered the main building.

“Not really…” he answered. Leo seemed to tense up even more. “What then? What has she then talked about?! J-just don’t believe her; she likes to over-exaggerate,” he questioned stressed. Takumi shook his head.

“No, nothing what you might think now; just that you’re actually very charming, which I highly doubt,” he replied calm, making the blond slightly relax and look at him from the corner of his eye.

“Well, you’re no price, either,” he replied casually. Should he hit him? He felt like that was his right to do now.

They both sighed soundly as they reached the room Odin and Niles resided in. Takumi opened, before he let Leo enter. Niles read a book, while Odin cleaned his tomes. As their lord came in, they looked up with smiles on their faces.

“You finally came, Milord. I’m glad to see you’re fine,” Niles stated calm. The blond nodded appreciative and sat down on the floor along with them. “I can only give that back,” he replied calm. The Hoshidian crossed his arms in front of his chest and slightly leaned against the wall next to the door.

He seemed so natural with them; as if they had been friends for a long time already and not like lord and retainers. He was a lot more formal when he talked to him. The grey haired let his gaze wander around the room. It felt like he shouldn’t disturb, so he wanted to leave again.

“Where are you going, Milord Takumi? Don’t you want to stay with us?” Niles held him up, which made him wince. He turned around with an asking look on his face to see the white haired smile slyly at him, while Odin pointed at one of the plays he had recited out of.

“Why would you want me to stay?” he questioned almost mistrusting, which made the two soldiers laugh. “Thy behavior hasn’t changed; coequal though I would have expected you to have sincerely awaited Milord Leo’s arrival!” Odin laughed loudly, which made him blush in embarrassment.

“W-w-why would you think that?! Why would I be happy about that? It’s not like I was treated well by him,” he stuttered furiously. Leo glared at him as if he wanted to tell him that he should be happy to still be alive.

“What is it, Prince Takumi? Shouldn’t you appreciate the fact that I saved your life several times?” he asked in reply. Takumi raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? You saved my life ‘several times’? You merely sent me here with your retainers in order to save them from your insane father. You might have saved me from my execution, but that wasn’t your main concern, was it now?” he countered calm, which made Leo’s eyebrow twitch.

“You’re so ignorant; I can’t believe it!” he stated annoyed. Takumi closed his eyes in order to not lose it. “Excuse me?” he asked. The blond made a snide sound.

“You really haven’t figured it yet? That only confirms my assumption of you being ignorant, little Prince. Do you remember when I brought you to the castle? Iago got pretty close to you, didn’t he? How did you feel when he touched you?” he asked rhetorically.

Takumi startled.   
The mere thought of that man sent chills down his back. He nodded without saying a word.

“His abilities are known all over Nohr. He’s not a very good mage, but he’s become pretty good at manipulation and mesmerize. You know, his favorite victims are people like you; strong and tough on the outside, but weak on the inside. You remember that I paralyzed him back then? I guess I saved you there, huh?” he told him.

Takumi looked to the ground, but didn’t answer. “Should I go on?” Leo asked, causing him to look at him. He raised an eyebrow, which made the blond sigh, but continue: “Do you remember that my father wanted me to kill you? The only reason why you’re still alive is because I asked him to let me question you. If I had refused to kill you and hadn’t been able to convince him, he would have probably killed you by himself.” He, himself, knew as much.

So, he should thank him for having sheer luck? That was pathetic. He started trembling slightly, but Leo didn’t seem to be finished at all. “I was the one to question you, wasn’t I? It’s right that I was the only one to come to your cell, isn’t it? Why do you think that is? I’m the prince; I wouldn’t need to come there. It’s actually below my status to talk to a prisoner. So, why do you think I would come to see you every day?” he carried on.

The grey haired exhaled as he shrugged his shoulders, causing Leo to laugh. He got up and pulled him closer. His eyes widened as he saw his face so close in front of him.   
“You’re pretty, you know? Your white and soft skin, your slim body and the strong look in your eyes; that is pretty attractive. A lot of the guarding knights would certainly agree with me on that, so what do you think they would have done; especially if you had fought back?” he whispered.

As he came so close, the grey haired blushed deeply and quickly turned his head away from him. Something had to be wrong with him, if he got so flustered when he just came a little closer. However, none of the guarding knights would have done anything to him. He was a guy; no one liked taking advantage of a guy, when they could have a woman. “I could continue, but I guess you got the idea,” Leo stated calm as he let off.

Then he got a slight distance to him. Takumi looked to the ground, while his body slowly stopped trembling. He had his head turned to the side, so that his blush would soon fade away. “Honestly, I wouldn’t have expected Prince Ryoma’s brother to be so different from him,” the blond stated calm, making him bite his lip.

Again! Just like everybody else.

Slowly Odin started laughing in a goofy manner. “Milord, do not word it so viciously! Prince Takumi’s strength is not to be denied! As being part of the Royal family of Hoshido he is sure to have acquired great strength of mind and body, which is to be used in combat efficiently!” he spouted.

It was impressive how he almost sang the words he said. However, it was even more impressive that he seemed to try to defend him and tell his lord how strong he thought he was. Unfortunately, his nice words couldn’t calm him in the least.

Being compared to his much greater siblings; whether it be Ryoma, Hinoka or even Corrin, was his weakness after all and Leo had hit it right on the spot. His face was still hot and all he wanted was flee this place, but he felt like he couldn’t move.

Suddenly, the door opened, which made him slightly turn his head at it. Prince Xander looked at him almost shocked. He slightly bowed down to him.

“Prince Takumi, are you alright? Your face is so red. Are you sick? Do you need a doctor?” he asked concerned. He didn’t look at him as he shook his head. The Nohrian crown prince grabbed his shoulders, which made him look up in shock. “You don’t look very good. I’m going to bring you to Elise,” he stated stressed, before pulling him out of the room. Then he quickly turned back at the door.

“Leo, I need to talk to you later. It’s about your room; stay here, so that I can find you again,” he told him to. He pulled Takumi through the house, until they reached Elise’s room. Prince Xander knocked.

“Come in!” Elise’s voice said which made her brother enter. He rapidly pulled him inside.

“Elise, will you take a look at him? His face is so red, which really worries me,” he told her calm. She started smiling happily. “You’re already trying to get along with the others. I’m so proud of you, O-nii-chan!” she raved enthusiastic.

Then she got closer to Takumi and felt his forehead. “You’re not hot, but you sure are red. What has happened?” she asked silently. The young Hoshidian turned his head away and grabbed onto his sleeve.

“Nothing. I’m fine. Your brother is imagining things,” he whispered mumbling. She quickly started smiling. “O-nii-chan, how did you find him?” she asked rhetorically, which made her brother tilt his head in an asking manner.

“In Niles’ and Odin’s room, along with Leo. I mean, Camilla has asked him to bring him there, right?” he made sure. ‘Ask him to’ put it extremely lightly. She almost forced it onto him, even though she knew that he didn’t want to spent time with him at all costs. The blond girl started smiling widely. “I knew it,” she whispered, before getting a rather serious expression on her face. “It’s not a fever. Probably it’s nothing. Perhaps he’s just…” she started before smiling an alluring smile. “… in love!” The grey haired winced as his eyes widened. He looked at her, willing to tell her not to continue talking by any means.

The way she had asked her questions already made her look so suspicious. Prince Xander tilted his head in an asking manner. “Excuse me?” he asked her. The blond girl’s smile got even wider. “I’m just saying; maaaybeee he has fallen for Leo,” she noted overly casual. Takumi’s face turned red again. “P-Princess Elise, it’s not at all like that. I’ve told you several times,” he stuttered.

Prince Xander exhaled sympathetically as he sat down on a chair. “How unfortunate for you, Prince Takumi. Leo tends to reject people that confess to him,” he stated in a sad voice. He didn’t want to confess to him! It was as if they both didn’t even want to listen to him. He knew that Elise and Camilla usually didn’t, but he had expected at least Prince Xander to be more sensible.

“But didn’t you say yourself that he was calling him pretty and all? Leo totally likes him. And he’s totally his type, too. Have you seen how he’s avoided looking at him?” his little sister stated, which seemed to make him think about what he had said. The Hoshidian prince almost clawed into his sleeves now. “I don’t want to confess to him in any way. Why would I fall for someone like him? I don’t even like men…” he replied while his blush deepened.

The tall Nohrian prince got up and pulled his face up, while observing him calm. “Well, Leo has always had a thing for pretty guys like you. Hm… you really are his type; she’s right. Are you sure you’re not interested in him? Elise might be right,” he stated thoughtful.

How could they talk about a subject like that so calmly? They didn’t even know each other very well; how could he ever feel anything for a guy he hardly knew? He backed off. “I’m not. Please excuse me now,” he asked them to, before he went out of the room, heading for his own.

Why did this have to happen?  
It wasn’t easy suppressing the feelings he felt when with the Nohrian prince, so his siblings didn’t have to help him feel even worse about this. He might like his face, but not him, right? He almost slammed open the door to his room, before immediately going inside. He closed it and leaned against it. He laid his hand on his chest.   
His heart beat so hard; just why?

Suddenly, the door knocked, which made him slightly startle. He opened about a slit wide and peeked outside. Ryoma stood in front of it, while looking at him asking. Slowly he opened the door completely.

“What is it, O-nii-sama?” he asked absently. Then he bowed slowly. His brother scratched the back of his head. “I need to talk to you about something,” he noted scantly. Takumi startled, but let him enter. He sat down at the little table in the corner of the room along with his brother.

“What is it you wanted to talk about with me?” he asked in trance. Ryoma sighed as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “It’s about the Nohrians,” he started, which already made him feel sick again. “The situation is this: we seem to be out of rooms. There’s only one room for two people left and Prince Xander has suggested leaving it to his retainers and just sharing a room with somebody else,” he explained further. Takumi crossed his arms in front of his chest.

He knew that he wouldn’t like to hear the following. “I thought that for the sake of our new-formed alliance, it could be you and me sharing a room with each of the two princes,” he said. The grey haired exhaled. So it was what he had thought.

“I see. So, you want me to share a room with one of them. Who?” he asked in reply. Ryoma slightly tilted his head.

“Well, Princess Camilla has said that Prince Leo seems to like you, so I thought you could get closer to each other like that,” he answered as if it was the most normal thing in the world. His little brother looked up at him with a deadly glare.

“What?! But I don’t like him at all! How can you say such a thing, O-nii-sama?” he asked furiously. Ryoma tilted his head. “Are you sure? You seemed to be pretty casual around him. I thought you actually liked him as well,” he asked more than he stated.

Casual? How could he tell? He hasn’t even seen them, has he?   
Takumi got up by reflex. “NO! Never would I fall for a guy like him!” he shouted excited.

The brown haired started smiling amused. “You’re as obvious as ever. Just give it a shot. If not for Prince Leo’s sake, then at least for mine, please,” he asked him to. Then he got up and left the room as if nothing had happened.

The grey haired sat down in trance. How could even his own brother try to hook him up with this guy? He lay down on the bed as he sighed soundly. Why was something like that decided without him? He would be happier sleeping in one room with one of Prince Xander’s retainers.

Hell; he would even share this room with the girl, even though he really didn’t like changing in front of women. However, anything was better than the current situation. Slowly he got up.

If there was someone going to sleep in his room, he should probably find a matress for him. He headed for the box room to look for one. There had to be still one. Damn, it was dark in here. If he had known, he would have taken along a lantern. Except for boxes full of weapons, there didn’t seem to be a lot in here anyway, but he was almost sure that they had to at least have some matresses.

“Milord, do you need help with anything?” he heard Felicia’s voice, which made him startle and turn around. “Ah… uh… actually, good timing. Could you help me find a spare matress?” he asked almost embarrassed. Felicia started giggling. “Are you looking for a matress for Leo-sama? You’re so attentive,” she asked.

He looked to the ground with an embarrassed expression on his face. “A-are you going to help me or not?” he replied annoyed. She chuckled again as she got closer. “I’m sorry, Milord. It’s just; you’re so kind,” she stated, making him raise an eyebrow. He has never been particularly nice to her, so she certainly wouldn’t be the first person to say that to him. The pink haired servant smiled happily.

“But you don’t need to look for any matress. Jakob, Flora and I have already taken care of that,” she said calm, before pulling him out of the box room. She laughed almost embarrassed. “You make me feel ashamed of myself, Milord. Being so considerate and attentive, even though you’re part of the Royal family is really admirable,” she noted as she walked along the corridors with him. Then she sighed as if she had forgotten something.

“Ah! Come to think of it: what do you think of Leo-sama? He’s really nice, isn’t he? He has always been very attentive towards me. Even though I’m so clumsy he’s never gotten angry with me,” she started raving happily. Takumi glared at her disgusted.

“Well, if you say so,” he gave back, which made Felicia look at him asking.   
“Oh… is it that you don’t like him? I’m sorry, I didn’t want to be so inconsiderate… it’s just… I’ve gotten the feeling… ah… never mind,” she rapidly stopped herself as if the things she wanted to say would make him angry. He looked at her from the corner of his eye.

“What is it? Just speak,” he told her to. Felicia blushed as her look turned to the ground. “Uh… t-the past few days Milady Camilla and Milady Elise have talked about the both of you very passionately. They said that they’ve gotten the feeling that you both seemed to like each other. A-and you know, they know their brother very well, so I thought they might be right,” she explained mumbling. The further she went with her explanation, the quieter she got; probably because she felt she was being unreasonable.

He sighed. He felt like he was surrounded by idiots that could just see the things they wanted to see.

As they reached his room, he saw Leo standing in front of it with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He looked up to them. “You’re finally here, Prince Takumi,” he stated. He really had a talent for being annoying the moment he started talking. What an idiot.

He rolled his eyes. “Shouldn’t you start being nicer to me? After all, I let you sleep in my room,” he replied annoyed. Leo chuckled snidely as he pulled him closer. “I could, but you don’t give me a reason to, do you? I mean, it’s not like you deliberately would share your room with me, am I right? Xander has told me that him and Prince Ryoma have decided, not you. Well, if I actually had been able to decide as well, I wouldn’t have gone with you, either,” he whispered in a cold voice.

Takumi snapped his arm away. Felicia tilted her head as she watched them. “Uhm… excuse me. I think Jakob has already put the spare matress in there,” she then said, but quickly turned her look away again as if she was disturbing them with something. “Uh… would you like…”

“Felicia! What are you doing there, just standing around?!” Jakob shouted at her, which made her wince and give off a slight scream.

“J-Jakob… I’m sorry. I actually just wanted to suggest some tea to them…” she mumbled silently, making him sigh. She looked up and slightly winced as she saw that he already had a tray with two cups of tea on top of it.

“Your tea is horrible. Please just don’t make one,” he said. She looked to the ground, but didn’t answer. Leo sighed as he took the tray. “Thank you very much, Jakob, but please be a little more sensitive around Felicia. You should know how sensitive she is, so be nicer to her,” he told him. The young butler bowed in front of him.

“As you wish, Milord. Can I bring the two of you anything else?” he asked quickly. The blond shook his head as he opened the door and pulled Takumi inside.

With the small folding cot, next to his own bed, the room looked surprisingly different and small. He suddenly felt like he hasn’t been here for hours, even though it was probably just a matter of minutes for Jakob to put up the cot. Leo placed the tray on the table, before looking around.

“Hm… it’s not big, but it’s actually nice,” he stated in thoughts. The Hoshidian prince’s eyebrow twitched. Well, whose fault was it that the room was so small? He sat down at the table and took one of the cups, while he watched Leo observe the room.

“You can’t do anything about that, can you now? It’s war; you can’t expect being treated appropriately to your status. Get used to it,” he countered, before taking a sip of the tea. Leo turned around, while sighing annoyed.

He sat down and took a sip of the other cup. “Please don’t take it as an insult. You seem to be rather hostile towards me all the time; how come?” he asked, while resting his head on the palm of his hand.

He smiled calm, which made Takumi slightly startle. It was probably the first time, since he had brought him to the castle, that he had smiled at him this nicely. He turned his head down as he felt a blush appearing on his face again.

“Why would I not be? You’re pretty arrogant towards me. Aren’t you rather hostile as well? Don’t pretend like you’re different from me,” he told him annoyed. Leo chuckled as he leaned towards him.   
“Hostile? Do I seem like that?” he asked rhetorically. Takumi nodded.

That was exactly what he has said just now. The blond clicked his tongue and sighed.

“So, they are right. How unfortunate,” he mumbled. He got up and walked around the table. “I’m sorry then. I didn’t intend that. It’s really not like I dislike you,” he said, which made the grey haired rapidly turn around. He looked at him in shock.

It felt so surreal to get an apologize from him. Then he turned back again. “I don’t mind. I’m used to it,” he mumbled. Leo laid his hand on the table, before pulling his head up from behind.

“You’re used to what?” he asked. Just the mere touch of his made his whole body shake. He pushed his hand away and vehemently stared at the table. “I’m used to being compared to my brother and people telling me that I’m so different from him. I’m just not a ruler like him; I know that,” he explained calm.

Leo exhaled stressed. “I don’t think you’re not suited as a ruler. You’re just not as strong as you brother; that’s all. But you’re certainly equally kind and caring,” he stated in a soothing voice. Takumi slightly looked at him from the corner of his eye. He went around the room, examining the furniture; especially the book shelf.

The grey haired chuckled. “What makes you say that all of a sudden? Just before and back in Nohr you preferred implying that you think I’m a coward,” he answered in a snide manner. The blond turned around and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“You’re pretty unforgiving, aren’t you?” he asked with a smile on his face. Of course he was. He shouldn’t let him get to him, since that was fatal. After all, Leo did seem like the type of person to take advantage of his opponents’ weaknesses. “I’m sorry about that, too. I thought Niles and Odin would be more than busy keeping you save on that trip, but they’ve told me you actually saved them during an ambush,” he stated.

It wasn’t particularly wrong what he said, but after all, Niles had been the one to keep him save on most of the trip. He felt ashamed of himself that he couldn’t even sense any of them, but Niles had to take in everything for him. Leo sat down in front of him again and started laughing.

“It’s been a long time, since Odin has ever labeled anyone having ‘a darker soul than even him, the Odin Dark’. Niles has actually also been very keen about you. I’m grateful you saved them. Thank you very much,” he noted amused. Takumi turned his gaze away.

He was actually good-looking when he smiled so nicely. However, getting compliments from him felt rather strange; as if he wanted to make fun of him. “Tell me, why are you avoiding to look at me?” he asked after a while, which made him look up in shock.

Was it so obvious? Of course he wouldn’t want to look at his handsome face. It was basically like the conversations he has had with Camilla and Elise; it only made him feel flustered and embarrassed. “I am?” he asked more rhetorically than he had intended to, making Leo giggle.

“Yes, you are. And you know it, don’t you?” he stated calm. Takumi kept on staring at the table, until the blond slightly let his finger run along his jawline, which made him look up by instinct. He blushed deeply as he saw his face.

“You’re cute when you blush, Prince Takumi,” he said in a warm voice. Takumi clawed into his sleeves while his eyes widened. Leo slightly leaned over the table. “Crap! You really are cute. That’s bad,” he mumbled, before getting even closer. The closer the blond came, the less Takumi could feel his own body. The only thing he knew exactly was the fact that his face went warmer and turned into a deeper shade of red.

Suddenly, the blond stopped right before their lips could touch. He sighed as his head went down. He started laughing. “I’m sorry. How stupid of mine,” he murmured, before slightly looking up. “I’m not going to do it again; please don’t think about it too much,” he said with a smile on his face as he backed off.

Slowly he let go of his face. Then he got up. “I’m going to look for Corrin. See you,” he stated calm. Takumi looked at the door as it closed.

How could he behave as if nothing happened, after he had nearly kissed him? And what was that all about?

He had been more than hostile, when he arrived; even just now, in front of the door, his behavior hasn’t changed! How come the sudden change of mind?! Just when he told him that he was being an asshole, his attitude had changed to that! He couldn’t be so dense to not realize when he was being a dick, until someone told him.

Takumi got up and let himself fall on his bed. He didn’t have any idea what he was supposed to do now. It was as if his whole head had gone numb.

Slowly he touched his lips, but then quickly put his hand down as if he had done something wrong. He sighed and closed his eyes. It was the middle of the day and he already felt exhausted. He felt like a coward getting so worked up over something so small.

Perhaps he should ask someone what to do now, but it wasn’t like it was easy to talk about Leo for him anyway. Now talking to Hinoka or Ryoma about a subject the both of them didn’t seem to take seriously was rather useless.

He heard the door knock, which made him slightly wince, but quickly get up. He peeked through a little slit outside. Hinoka stood in front of the door smiling. He slowly opened to her, which only made him have to realize that Sakura and Camilla were with her. He raised an eyebrow, but let them enter. “Oh… how unfortunate. Leo is not with you? How come?” Camilla asked almost sad. The grey haired sighed.

“He went out. He wanted to see Corrin…” he mumbled. The violet haired woman sat down on the bed and crossed her legs. “Aw… he probably fled, because he felt so uncomfortable around you,” she stated laughing. Takumi crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Well thanks,” he answered making her laugh. “That’s not in the least what I meant,” she replied. Then she leaned forward and rested her head on her hand, while her arm rested on her knee. “I just assume he doesn’t know how to deal with you. Just before, Xander and I have told him that he shouldn’t act so cold towards you. You might be his first true love, so he doesn’t know how to treat you. Usually he’s nicer to people he likes, but obviously not to people he truly likes” she stated with an alluring expression on her face.

Hinoka giggled as she leaned against the wall next to the bed. “You should give it a shot with Leo. I mean, you look so cute together,” she said. ‘Cute’… it felt like Camilla has taught that word to her and she seemed to use it the exact same way the Nohrian princess did.

“What makes you think such a thing? What makes all of you guys think he likes me?” he replied annoyed. Quickly after he finished, he startled and looked to the ground. This wasn’t the best timing to think of Leo having almost kissed him. Camilla giggled.

“I think the main question is, if you actually like him,” she stated as she pierced him with her gaze. He looked at her, before turning his look to his own sisters. Sakura vehemently gazed at the table as if she had to hold back with what she had to say. He slightly blushed.

He couldn’t say that he hated him, but like…?   
He didn’t know.

Thinking about the situation before, the whole question only made him feel more nervous. He certainly couldn’t say anymore that he hated him, but love was such a big feeling that he couldn’t allow himself to feel for an adversarial prince.

“No, I don’t,” he mumbled, which made Camilla tilt her head. Sakura looked up as he said that, but didn’t answer even though she certainly looked like she wanted to. Hinoka sighed. “Takumi, have you realized something?” she asked calm, which made him look at her. He raised an eyebrow. “What should I have realized?” he questioned. His sister got closer to him and pointed at his face.

“You’re blushing all over. You’ve already been, when we came in, but after Camilla has asked that question, your face has gone even redder,” she stated. Sakura exhaled relieved as if Hinoka has said what she wanted to all along.

Camilla gave a happy laugh. “You’re right! He is! I haven’t even realized!” she shouted excited. Then she got up and closer to him. She pulled his face closer. “Tell me, has something happened between you guys? I bet something has! Has he kissed you? How was it?!” she asked excited. He pushed her hand away.

“We didn’t kiss. Nothing happened,” he replied for the first time in a loud voice. The violet haired got a slight distance to him. “Aw! That’s too bad. How come?” she complained. ‘How come?’! As if he knew! He just knew that he was happy that nothing happened in the end. He clearly wasn’t ready for that.

“He has backed off and then went out of the room,” he mumbled in response, making the young princess tilt her head and smile sly. “So something did happen,” she stated with a certain glow in her eyes. Takumi blushed, before looking to the ground. Camilla laughed.

“Aw, c’mon sweetheart; tell us!” she almost begged. She embraced him, while pushing him into her cleavage. “C’mon you can tell your two sisters by blood and your future sister in law!” she stated as if anything was already decided. He certainly didn’t want to marry Leo. That was so weird and unnatural. Breathing slowly got difficult as he laid in her cleavage.

He pushed against her body, which made her let off. “Aw sorry, dear! You couldn’t breathe?” she asked as she sat down beside Sakura. Then she rested her head on the palm of her hand. “I won’t do it again, if you tell me what happened between the two of you!” she blackmailed happily.

Takumi sighed as he sat down in front of the two of them. “I told you already; nothing happened. It’s just… I don’t know… he came awfully close all of a sudden, but just as quickly backed off again. Then he went out of the room. What am I even supposed to think of such behavior?” he told them.

For a moment, the three girls didn’t say anything, until Camilla snorted annoyed. “That’s just like him. What a troublesome child he is,” she noted more to herself than to him.

“I think you should have stopped him from going. I mean, you like him, too, don’t you, Takumi-o-nii-sama?” Sakura raised her voice for the first time. He looked at her shocked. It was always so extraordinary when she said something as daring as that. She would always quickly get silent again and try to pretend nothing happened.

However, not this time; this time she looked at him with a strong, almost annoyed look on her face.

“You’re never standing up for yourself, O-nii-sama. Why couldn’t you at least this time? You like him after all, don’t you?” she said in a strict voice. He stared at her incredulous, but quickly caught himself again. “What makes you think that as well now, Sakura?” he asked annoyed, which only made her wince and look back at the table.

“Uh… i-i-it’s just… your voice, when we came here… a-and you blushed so deeply…” she mumbled. His voice…? She could sense his confusion by just his voice, when they came in. That was bad. He didn’t want people to understand his feelings better than he did.

Camilla now got up. She approached to him and let her finger run along his jawline. “So, you’ve reacted like this just because he came so close? That’s really cute,” she stated happily. Takumi turned his face away from her and sighed.

“That was just a natural reaction. It doesn’t have anything to do with him,” he contradicted her, making her close up even more, while her smile got wider. “Then how come you’re not at all getting aroused when it’s me coming so close to you? You’re quite contradicting,” she countered, which made his eyes widen. He didn’t react to her like that, but wasn’t that obvious? He knew her longer than her brother. “Of course not; I’ve gotten used to your behavior, Princess Camilla,” he stated avoiding. The violet haired bit her lip, but quickly started smiling again. She looked to Hinoka and Sakura, before turning back to him.

“Then how about I do this; how will you react?” she asked, before kissing him slightly. Sakura gave off a slight scream, but quickly went silent again. Unlike Hinoka, who got up and bashed on the table. She wanted to say something, but only bits and pieces of actual words came out. It couldn’t even be considered stuttering anymore, since it wasn’t like she even managed to form a sentence.

All of a sudden the door opened.

Shortly afterwards, he felt a strong hand on his shoulder, which rapidly pulled his paralyzed body away from Camilla. Leo let go of him and grabbed his sister’s collar. “What do you think you’re doing there, Camilla?! Are you freaking nuts!” he shouted at her, only resulting in a smile of hers.

She brushed over her lips with her thumb, before looking at Takumi. “You’ve got such soft lips, sweetie. No wonder Ryoma stated you to be so enchanting. You might not have reacted, but it was still a pleasure,” she stated laughing.

Leo clenched his fist. He looked to the ground, while his body started shaking with anger. “Don’t go too far, O-nee-san,” he whispered just loud enough. His sister bowed forward to him and whispered something into his ear, before pulling his hand away from her collar. Then she turned around smiling at Sakura and Hinoka.

“C’mon, don’t look at me like that. I just wanted to test something out and you guys know it. You should be happy, ‘cuz I proofed what we all have hoped for,” she told them happily, before slowly walking to the door. She let her finger run across his jawline as she walked past him, making him slightly wince. Leo quickly grabbed her hand, while looking at her in a hostile manner.

However, his look quickly relaxed again and he let go of her. She chuckled amused as she left the room. The blond exhaled stressed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He turned around to muster his two sisters.

“You’re Princess Hinoka and Princess Sakura of Hoshido, aren’t you?” he asked, making Sakura startle.   
She nodded shyly, while Hinoka drew her closer to protect her. He sighed soundly.

“I’m sorry about my sister’s behavior. She doesn’t always think about what she’s doing in front of people,” he apologized. Hinoka slowly let off of her sister. Then she touched the back of her head and started laughing. “I think we should go now, right Sakura?!” she stated, before rapidly pulling the pink haired out of the room. What was that? It was as if they wanted him to be alone with Leo after what Camilla had done.

Unfortunately, it felt to him like Leo would kill him now for having kissed his sister. He just seemed like the type of person to not like seeing his sister kiss a man that was basically an enemy.

“Uh… I’m sorry. C-Camilla has just suddenly kissed me. I don’t even know why she has just…” he stuttered, but quickly shut up, when Leo glared at him. “I didn’t know you had a relationship with her,” he stated, making him wince.

He waved reassuring. “No, that’s not it at all. Uh… she… I told that I don’t know why she suddenly kissed me. I mean, I wasn’t even prepared for it,” he tried calming him down. Then he exhaled to soothe himself, before sitting down on the chair.

“I know you don’t want to see me kiss your sister. I’m sorry,” he mumbled. Leo snorted annoyed. “Well, certainly I don’t,” he replied a lot calmer than just now. Takumi stared at the table.

“Yeah, I know. If I told you that it wasn’t me who has started, I bet you wouldn’t believe me, would you? But don’t worry; I can understand you’re angry at me now. I mean, I certainly wouldn’t be happy, if one of my sisters kissed a guy I didn’t like,” he answered just to calm him down.

However, it only turned out to be the contrary, since Leo glared at him and bashed against the table, sending a shiver down his spine as he looked up. He quickly pulled him closer by his collar, just like before; until their lips almost touched.

“I thought we’ve already clarified this matter. I told you I don’t hate you,” he said silently. It felt like a dejà-vu from before, when he came so close to him; just that this time he seemed a lot angrier.

Slowly his expression got lighter and he looked at him almost suffering.  
Then he let go of him. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and sighed, before glaring at him once more.

“I didn’t know you liked Camilla that much. I wouldn’t have assumed you to be the type of person to get seduced by her,” he stated.

‘Like Camilla’?! Not that she wasn’t a lovable person, but she was way too over the top. He didn’t ‘like’ her in that way. She was more of a good friend, or another sister. However, if he could choose, he would rather not have her as a sister.

“I think you’ve got it wrong…” he mumbled silently. Leo sighed and started frowning. “Will you show me the stable? I want to see Melissa,” he changed the subject. Takumi looked up, but slowly his tense body relaxed again. “Sure,” he said as he got up. He would do that with pleasure. After all, Melissa’s presence was pretty soothing to him as well.

Along with the blond he went out of the room and headed for the stable. The silence was unbearable. He just had to think that it was only temporary that he had to deal with these feelings. The war would be over soon and then he would never have to see him again, or feel like that.

As they reached the stable, he showed him Melissa’s box. Leo smiled happily as he saw her. He quickly got inside and started stroking over her head, while she greeted him happily. Takumi leaned against the outside of the box as he watched him from the corner of his eye.

Suddenly, the blond turned at him with a happy smile on his face. “Who has taken care of her? Her fur is so soft,” he asked. The Hoshidian looked to the ground. He couldn’t tell him that it was him. That would be so embarrassing.

“I don’t know… Probably Kaden. He’s pretty good with animals; especially when it’s about fur care,” he lied. “I have to thank him. He has taken really good care of her,” Leo replied. Takumi raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, do whatever you like,” he answered calm. Suddenly, Melissa stepped out of her box and laid her head on his, which made him startle. That was right! She has casually started doing that. Leo chuckled. “She seems to like you more than I thought,” he stated amused. The grey haired slightly stepped away from her, while taking her head off of him. He slightly stroke over her fur. “Uhm… yeah, I spent a lot of time with her the past few days. Her presence soothes me,” he mumbled avoiding. He certainly didn’t want him to know that it was him to take care of her the past few days. The Nohrian giggled as he leaned against the inside of the box. “I see. Well, that certainly makes me happy,” he stated laughing.

Then he looked at his horse. Takumi startled, before guiding her back into her box. “It makes me happy, too. Usually animals don’t like me, but she’s very nice,” he mumbled as he slightly stroke over her fur. A soft smile formed on his lips, when looking at her. However, slowly he let go of her. “I’ll be leaving now. I bet you want some time with her alone,” he said calm as he left the box.

Leo quickly grabbed his hand and pushed him against the inside of the box. He closed up. “You know what Camilla said just now, when she whispered into my ear?” he asked rhetorically. Well, no, but it wasn’t like he wanted to. He shook his head, making Leo sigh in agony.

“She said I should seize a chance, when I see one, so… I will only be doing this once, so please forgive me. I just hate to think about her kissing you…” he whispered.

Then he started kissing him; only slightly at first, but he quickly got more passionate; especially when he realized that he wouldn’t try to fight him.

It was as if Takumi’s whole body was paralyzed. He just couldn’t attempt to fight him. Slowly, he opened his mouth, which made Leo immediately react. He winced as he got kissed so deeply, yet slightly moaned.

Leo stopped and pulled his hair, so that he had to look to the ceiling, as he started to kiss his neck. He slowly slipped his hands into his kimono, which made him groan and claw his nails into his sleeves.   
Feeling his warm hands on his skin was so familiar, yet so scary, since he got way too aroused by it. “Don’t…” he gasped as he felt a rough kiss on his neck. He tried pushing him away, but Leo grabbed onto his neck as he kept pulling the kimono down.  
“Sweet,” he murmured in a rough voice, before continuing to kiss him. All his attempts of putting up a fight got weaker and weaker.

He moaned as Leo suddenly started biting and sucking his lips. His eyes widened, before pushing him away more forcefully than before. He held his one hand over his lips, while the other still grabbed onto the blond. The young Nohrian prince slowly got a distance to him.

He started smiling. “Like I said, I won’t do it again, so please forgive me,” he said silently. Takumi slightly looked up, while holding into his kimono shirt.   
Slowly, he let off of him. He probably looked like a total mess. Leo blushed as he looked at him.

Then he slightly stepped closer to him, making him back off. The blond stroke over his face and neck, making Takumi slap him by instinct.

“Don’t touch me! You said you wouldn’t do it again. Don’t ever touch me again!” he demanded. Leo backed off, while holding his cheek. “You’re right. I’m sorry,” he stated. The grey haired looked up, but quickly walked out of the stable. He held onto his kimono and covered his mouth.

When he reached his room, he closed the door and leaned against it. As his breath regulated, he slowly started looking at the mirror facing him. He looked worse than he thought. His whole face was red and he had tears in his eyes.

The place Leo had kissed him so roughly carried a mark. His lips had a slight rose tone, since he had gotten bitten there. He sunk to the ground, while touching his lips. Why did he react like that? His whole body shivered, yet he couldn’t get himself from desiring more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was bit messy and fast, wasn't it? I'm sorry... I'm grateful to all the people that have stayed until the end. ^_^


	3. Not too big differences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Leo's surprising kiss, Takumi struggles with keeping his composure. However, he better should regain it, since enemies are attacking the Astral Plane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't really how to summarize it, since there's quite a lot happening in this.

She looked so happy, when speaking in front of all these people. From time to time she would turn around to Corrin to smile at him genuinely. Quickly she turned her word at the crowd again…  
Slowly the whole atmosphere changed. No one knew why, but everybody started feeling uneasy, when a man, wearing a brown coat stepped in front of the crowd, reaching his hand out for… Corrin…

A sword flew through the air, into the mysterious man’s hand… He pushed it into the ground. It started shaking; pieces… splinters, covered in a dark force, were flying through the air; some into Corrin’s direction… Queen Mikoto… shielded… him…  
A scream of shock was audible, before she sunk into his arms… She said something to which he answered with ‘Yes’.  
What did she say?  
What were her last words?  
She closed her eyes.  
No! Not yet. Not yet should she close her eyes!

He opened his eyes. Shaking he sat up in his bed.  
Again that dream…  
No matter how hard he tried, he seemed to never be able to forget about that day. He felt so cold, even though he was bathed in sweat. He clung onto his own clothing, while trying to relax his breath. Slowly he turned his gaze at the bed next to his to see that Leo wasn’t even lying in it anymore. That was kind of reassuring. At least he didn’t have to see him this morning, when he had just had another nightmare. Though, after what happened yesterday night, he would prefer to not see him ever again. Steadily he got up.

 

“You’re awfully quiet today. Has anything happened?” Ryoma asked at breakfast. He looked up to his brother, but quickly stared back at his plate. “No,” he answered. The brown haired tilted his head.

“Has anything happened with Prince Leo? I thought you wanted to try getting along with him,” he stated.   
Well, yeah!   
He wanted to, but that was before what happened yesterday evening. Only thinking of it made him blush in embarrassment again. Why was he such a retard and even replied to him? He hasn’t replied to Camilla in any way. There should have been no difference.

“I told you, nothing has happened. We just won’t ever become friends. I guess we’re too different,” he answered avoiding, making his brother chuckle. Takumi looked up, while tilting his head. “What is it?” he asked annoyed.

“I’m sorry. I just thought that what you said sounded rather absurd,” he laughed. The grey haired raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t at all being absurd. He would never become friends with a guy like Leo. It might not have been for the reason he had told his brother, but of course that was also a factor. After all, they were pretty different.   
They were of different birth, the way they had lived up until now had been different, their kingdoms were different. He was pretty sure Leo was never compared to his siblings, either. Well, of course not!

He was intelligent and everybody would come to him first, if they had a question. He was highly regarded and respected by his family, which was something he could only dream of. “What do you mean ‘absurd’?” he asked annoyed. Ryoma laughed and rested his head on the palm of his hand. “I’m just saying: you’re quite similar to each other; even more than you might think yourself,” he stated.

Takumi looked away from him back at his plate. He refused to believe the stuff his brother said. He wasn’t at all like Leo. How would Ryoma know anyway? He hasn’t spent any time with him up until now. The only person he had spent time with was most certainly Prince Xander. He seemed to have fun talking to him and deciding things that destroyed his life. “In what way am I similar to this rude person?” the grey haired asked, making his brother chuckle.

“You’re both protective over your sisters,” Hinoka’s voice resonated, which made him turn his head at her. She sat down next to him, while placing her plate on the table. Sakura followed her and sat down beside Ryoma. “So what? I’m your brother; that’s a natural thing to do and he knows that as well,” he replied. She shouldn’t behave like it was anything out of the ordinary.

“But O-nii-sama, I thought you liked Prince Leo,” Sakura stated more than she asked. Annoyed Takumi glared at her, making her wince. “And I thought I have already told you that I would never in my life fall for someone like him,” he told her in a strict voice. The pink haired looked at the table in shame. Hinoka started laughing.

“Geez, you’re awfully sensitive today. Didn’t we have that subject already yesterday? I think it was crystal clear that Prince Leo likes you,” she noted as she took a sip of her tea. Ryoma made an excited noise, before leaning forward to him. “Oh really? What happened?!” he asked interested. Takumi sighed and got up. Perhaps Leo liked him, but it was more likely that he wanted to play around with him.

“You have no idea; just like I thought,” he said silently, before leaving the table. He placed the dishes on the little cart for it that Jakob had prepared, when he felt a hand on his wrist. He turned around to see Ryoma with a serious expression on his face. “Have you had another nightmare again?” he asked awfully serious. Takumi looked to the ground as he snapped his hand away. “No. It’s nothing; you don’t need to worry about me,” he mumbled silently.

Then he wanted to leave the room, when Leo and his family suddenly entered.

He instinctively backed off as if he was going to kiss him again. It would certainly be worse in front of everybody else. The blond looked at him, but quickly turned his gaze away. “Good morning, Prince Takumi,” he said as he went further inside. He looked to the ground, while clawing into his sleeve.

“Good morning to you, too,” he replied silently. Camilla petted his head.

“Good morning, sweetheart. Why so formal? Haven’t the two of you gotten closer to each other yesterday, after we left?” she asked happily. Leo grabbed her hand and pulled her slightly away from him. “We haven’t. We’re probably too different to be friends, isn’t that right, Prince Takumi?” he answered his sister’s question for him.

The grey haired nodded, while avoiding his gaze. Then he finally left the room. Camilla tried to hold him up, but he slipped through her grip. Quickly he walked along the floor, while his gaze remained at the ground. This was for best. If Leo started avoiding him as well and acted so cold towards him, it would be better for the both of them.

His cold behavior towards him, felt rather hurtful, since he had been so nice to him just yesterday, but he shouldn’t act like such a weak idiot. He knew it was for best like this.

When he woke up this morning, Leo wasn’t there, which relieved him at the time, but seeing his face now, made it all come up again.  
Suddenly, he ran into someone. He had looked to the ground up until now, but had to look up now.

The young man that had come along with Prince Xander and Leo stood in front of him, smiling embarrassed.

“Ah… I’m sorry, Milord! Gosh, I’m so scatterbrained. I’m so sorry!” he said as he reached out his hand to him, while touching the back of his head. Takumi looked at him puzzled, but quickly took his hand. “Oh… uh… I’m fine; don’t worry,” he mumbled without looking at him. The man slightly pulled him closer to look at his face. “You’re Prince Takumi of Hoshido, right? Man… from up close, you sure are pretty. Milord Leo sure has a good taste in men,” he stated in a drowsy voice.

Takumi let go of his hand, which made the young man quickly get a slight distance to him. “Ah… I’m sorry. Did I say too much? Please forgive me, Milord,” he said. The grey haired waved reassuring.

“No, it’s fine. It’s nice to meet you,” he answered silently. The young man smiled, but then winced and bowed. “How impolite of mine; my name is Laslow. I’m pleased to finally introduce myself to you, Milord. I’m one of Milord Xander’s retainers,” he introduced himself. The young prince nodded at him, before trying to make his way past him.

However, Laslow quickly grabbed his arm. “Milord, are you okay?” he asked. Takumi looked at him asking. “Why would I not be?” he questioned, while raising an eyebrow. The grey haired mercenary let off of him and looked around the floor stressed.

“Uh… it’s just… you don’t look as collected as yesterday. You… uh… seem kinda distracted. I just thought something might have confused you,” he stated. He couldn’t believe he was so easy to read for even a man that didn’t know him in the least.

Perhaps that was because he had run into him. He turned around, before looking at him from just the corner of his eye.   
“What makes you think you’re capable of telling my current state mind? Know your place!” he demanded in a cold voice, before walking off. Hopefully he had rebuilt the image this man had of him with this statement.

He didn’t want to be the kind of person whose discontent could be sensed by basically any stranger. That was weak and he wasn’t in a position to be weak. It was already more than weak enough to think so much of a man he shouldn’t think of.

Almost casually, he went into the stable to Melissa’s box. It had become such a natural thing to him to brush her fur as soon as he was stressed that he didn’t even think of the fact anymore that she was actually the horse of the man he wanted to avoid the most.

He got the brush Kaden had recommended to him for her fur and walked into her box with a bucket of water. Melissa neighed happily as he entered. He started smiling again and petted her head. Then he picked up the brush and dipped it slightly into the water, like Kaden had told him to. It would clean her fur along with it, he had said, while almost pushing the bucket into his face.

She cuddled her head to his neck, which made him slightly wince. It was the place Leo had left the hickey on yesterday. He slowly removed her head from him, but gently stroke over it, so that she wouldn’t be too shocked.

Suddenly, this whole stable felt so uncomfortable. He looked to the wall next to the door, to which Leo had pushed him to. He slightly touched his neck as he pulled his scarf up as if it has become visible. He laid his head on Melissa’s back, but continued brushing her fur. Then he slightly pulled her head to him to stroke over it. She snorted, which soothed him slightly. For a while, he brushed her fur in this position, while occasionally pulling her head to him.

He acted like a coward, getting so confused by just the thought of him. The nightmare he had had didn’t help his current state of mind in the least, unfortunately. He would have expected himself to pay more attention to that, instead of Leo, then, but all it did, was increasing his stress. He sighed soundly as he laid his arms around Melissa’s neck.  
Suddenly he felt her lick his face, which made him laugh. She probably felt his uneasiness and tried to soothe him.

Well, it somehow worked.

“You’re on really good terms with her, huh?” he suddenly heard Leo’s voice, which made him wince. Slowly he turned around to him. He stood in the doorway of the box with his arms crossed in front of his chest, smiling a soft smile.

Takumi quickly let off of Melissa and got a slight distance to her. “I’m sorry. I’ve gotten used to this,” he said as he walked past him.

Leo quickly grabbed his arm. “I don’t mind. If you like her, just keep on visiting her. She seems to like you too, ‘Kaden’,” he said calm. The Hoshidian startled, before looking at him in shock. “I’m not…”

“Yeah, I know. But when I wanted to thank him today in the morning, he told me that it wasn’t him to take care of her fur and food all the time, but you. You merely asked him for advice. So, thank you,” he interrupted him with a smile on his face.

Takumi snapped his arm away from him. “You’re welcome,” he mumbled, before trying to walk off once more. “Why didn’t you tell me?” the blond asked, making him look at him from the corner of his eye. “It doesn’t matter, does it? I thought you didn’t want a man you don’t like to take care of her, so I told you it was Kaden,” he replied avoiding. Leo sighed.

“Well, whatever. Thank you anyway, Prince Takumi,” he said calm. Takumi nodded at him, before leaving. He was rather unfortunate. He had forgotten that she wasn’t his property. If he wanted to avoid Leo, he should better not look after her anymore, even though her presence soothed him a lot.

Probably he had to return to his former place of comfort. However, compared to Melissa, it was rather weak.

A while back, he had found a little grove behind the main building, which had been his place of comfort, whenever he had had a nightmare.

Slowly, he walked there. He sat down beneath one of the trees and sighed soundly. He could only hope that he would be alone here for a while, until he would be able to calm down. He had always been able to calm down here, since no one ever found it, but it seemed like he had slightly forgotten about it, since he had started to feel rather comfortable in the stable. It wasn’t like a lot of people ever came there anyway; especially because there weren’t that many animals.

However, steadily the number of animals increased. From time to time Keaton would come there to sleep in one of the empty boxes, even though he actually had a room to sleep in.

However, the reason Takumi had preferred coming here in the past, was the fact that it was an unknown spot of this place, unlike the stable. If no one knew it, no one would look for him here. It soothed him, since it felt like he was closer to his mother at this place.

He closed his eyes, while touching his neck again. He slightly pulled the scarf down to feel for the hickey, but it wasn’t like it was a big wound in any way that had to heal with coagulation. It wasn’t painful, but the mere thought of the blond kissing him there and the slight pain he had felt when he sucked his skin there, made him blush deeply again. He slightly turned to the side and clawed his fingers into his sleeves, before sighing again.

Slowly his body relaxed; however not for long, since he felt another presence soon. He turned around, but saw no one. He didn’t get paranoid again, did he now?

“Who’s there?” he asked slowly, which made the person appear from a dark part of the grove.

It was Azura.   
She had a rather worried look on her face. “I’ve seen you walk here after exiting the stable. Your face looked so pained all the time that I worried,” she stated in a calm voice. He turned around. “So you’ve decided to follow me?” he questioned annoyed. She didn’t answer, but sat down next to him.

“I’m sorry. I know you don’t like me very much, but I was concerned. After all, I see you as my family,” she said. He exhaled. It wasn’t like he hated her. He just couldn’t fully trust her. Her whole existence was just so inexplicable.

She used to be a princess of Nohr or Valla… or whatever…; she couldn’t have forgotten about that. What if she was a traitor, after all? He loved her as a sister, too, but if she was a traitor after all, it would only be more painful to have to let her go… or even worse. “Well, please just don’t tell anybody about this place. I like coming here when I want to be alone, because no one knows it, so please keep it to yourself,” he asked her to. She nodded and started smiling.

“That’s fine with me. I can understand why you would want this place to yourself. It’s so calm here; as if time stood still. You can actually forget about your worries here,” she noted as she looked around. Precisely. Azura laid her hand on his arm and leaned against him.

For a while they both remained silent. Her warm body leaning against him calmed him down. “Have you had another nightmare?” she asked after a while. He looked at her form the corner of his eye. “What makes you think that?” he asked in return.

She thought for a while. “When we were younger, you were already the type of person to prefer suffering alone. You always left the castle and went to the lake, so that no one would see you cry. Since you asked me to keep this place a secret from everybody else, because you liked being alone here, I just thought you would always come here, when something was on your mind,” she explained.

He winced. That hit it quite on the head. She might know him better than he had assumed. He didn’t know that she had even realized when they were kids. He might have had some complexes, but he had always thought that no one could tell. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say now. She basically knew everything.

“I did have a nightmare, but it’s been the usual, so there’s nothing to be concerned about,” he tried to reassure her. She tilted her head slightly. “So, is it something else you’re concerned about then?” she asked once more. He remained silent. He couldn’t possibly tell her.

“Has it got to do with Leo?” Azura asked after a while, which made him wince once more. He turned his face away from her as a blush appeared on it. He touched his neck to pull up the scarf, so that she wouldn’t see the hickey.

“What makes you think that?” he repeated silently. She loosened her grip. “It’s just an assumption I have made. He likes you, you know?” she said scantly. Takumi refused to believe that. He was no different from other Nohrian scum. He closed his eyes.

“He doesn’t,” he answered. Azura now completely let off. “But he really does. Yesterday, he wanted to talk to Corrin about you; he really wanted to get to know you better. What he said made me think that he likes you. Probably more than just as a friend,” she contradicted him. He clawed into his sleeve. His body started shaking.

If he liked him more than just as a friend, why did he act so cold towards him? Why was he so arrogant? Why was he telling him how much of a coward he was?  
He should be more affectionate towards him, if he wanted to make him believe that he liked him. “He doesn’t,” he repeated himself. Azura touched his face. He quickly pushed her hand away, but that only made her lean against him anew.

“Why do you think he doesn’t?” she asked in return. He clenched his teeth and pushed her away. “He’s only playing with me. That’s the way he likes me; not in any way you think,” he noted quietly, while suppressing a sob. Why did he react like that? Leo shouldn’t be so important to him to make him cry. He could feel her lean against him again, which actually made him want to push her away once more.

“How can you be so sure about that?” she asked chuckling. She shouldn’t laugh about his situation. He was in misery here, because of a man he shouldn’t even like and slowly he had to realize that he has fallen for him, despite the fact that he hardly knew him. Azura laid her hand on his shoulder to calm him down. “Relax and then tell me,” she told him soothing, while a soft smile formed on her face.

He took a deep breath and slowly rested his head on hers. He touched his lips as if the kiss from yesterday was visible. “Yesterday… he kissed me…” he started off; then he took another breath. He looked into the sky, which was barely visible through the crowns of the trees.

“And? Isn’t that a sign of him liking you?” she asked now. He clenched his fists, while slightly drawing her closer to him. Then he shook his head. “It didn’t feel like it. He just pushed me against the wall. A-and… it felt so…” he mumbled, before gulping. “… violent. He bit me and… marked me…” he whispered, before his voice broke up. Quickly he touched his neck again. Azura had kept calm and silent up until now, but she slightly grabbed into his arm as she heard him retell the story.

“So, I assume you didn’t enjoy it…?” she asked, making him clench his teeth. Of course he did, but he couldn’t possibly tell her. Neither any of his other siblings. That would be fatal. He winced as he felt her pull down his scarf. Quickly he escaped. “What are you doing?!” he shouted.

She laughed, but pointed at his neck. “I just wanted to see the mark,” she stated, which only infuriated him even more. Azura got up, while laughing. “I think you should talk to him. I don’t think he only sees you as some kind of plaything,” she noted.

From afar voices were audible that seemed to shout people’s names. They looked into the direction of which the voices came from. They seemed excited.  
“I think we should go there,” the blue haired said with a sudden serious expression on her face. He nodded and got up following her.

As they reached the main place, they had to see that almost all the others were fighting with intruders.

“Azura! Takumi! There you are! We need you here!” Corrin shouted as he approached to them. Suddenly an arrow shot from behind them, right in front of Corrin’s face. It hit a knight that had just launched a surprise attack at him. He startled as he looked into the direction the arrow had come from. Niles stood there smiling sneakily. “You should pay better attention, Milord. Who knows what people might do to you, if you don’t,” he said calm.

Corrin bowed to show his gratitude, but quickly turned to Azura and Takumi again. “Do you have your weapons with you?” he asked.

Of course not! He didn’t always carry his Fujin Yumi with him wherever he went. He looked around to see that there were an amazing amount of intruders infiltrating the place. It was necessary to fight in this moment. It wasn’t unlikely for intruders to infiltrate this place, but it had never been so many at a time. He pulled Azura close to him. “I’m going to get them,” he said.

“Won’t be necessary,” he heard a familiar voice. He looked to the right to see Leo tossing his bow to him. Seeing Melissa in such heavy armor felt surprisingly unreal. He just didn’t know her like this.  
He looked at him slightly confused, but bowed thankfully.

Suddenly Camilla landed next to them. She handed a Naginata to Azura, while smiling softly. “C’mon, Nee-chan. I’ll give you a ride. They’re pretty strong, so just stay by my side, okay?” she said in a soft voice. The blue haired slightly looked to Corrin and Takumi, before getting up on the wyvern.

“Princess Camilla!” he raised his voice making her look at him with a smile on her face. “Look well after her,” he mumbled as he looked up to her. She smiled calm.

“Of course!”

Leo trotted closer to him, which made Melissa cuddle her snout to him. “Hey, tell me, are you fast at shooting?” he asked, making Corrin laugh. “He’s faster than anybody else in the army,” he answered his question, which made the blond reach his hand out to him. “Fast enough to keep up with a horse’s speed?” he carried on asking. Takumi looked at Corrin, as if he knew the answer to that.

He believed he was, but of course he had never tried. “I might be,” he said calm as he took his hand. Leo pulled him up to the horse.

“I’m warning you. I’ll toss you off of her, if you’re not as fast as Niles,” he stated. Fine with him! He didn’t want to be so close to him anyway. It was already a living nightmare, when he had to be on this horse with him on their way to Windmire. Corrin smiled as he ran off back into battle.

Slowly Takumi grabbed onto Leo’s waist as he started riding.   
He rode into the direction of Lilith’s temple, where a crowd of soldier already threatened her and some units that tried to protect her, or had to be healed by her.

“Shoot them!” Leo demanded more than he asked him to. Takumi quickly let off of him and drew the bow. He landed three quick shots right after one another. It was a little harder than regular shooting, but it was actually not that bad.

Quickly he landed more shots, which seemed to become easier with every arrow he shot. Leo stopped Melissa abruptly. He turned around to him with a surprised expression on his face. For a while, the grey haired looked at him, but then quickly carried on shooting, which was a lot easier now that they were standing, allowing him to increase his speed. Then he heard the blond laugh.

“I’m taking back everything I said. You’re better than expected,” he said calm. It might have been a compliment, but from him it sounded like an insult; as if he didn’t expect him to be capable at doing anything.   
He felt like talking back to him, but was too drawn-in by shooting the enemies that just kept on increasing in number. “Do you want to help me here, or would you rather carry on making unnecessary remarks?” he answered after shooting enough enemies to slightly calm down again. Leo chuckled. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry,” he answered laughing, before pulling a tome out of his coat.

As he started casting a spell, the atmosphere changed rapidly. It became awfully cold, while the ground started shaking. Takumi quickly carried on shooting.  
A fulminant noise was audible as a bright light lit up the place. The bright illusion of a tree seemed to spread out of the ground, which seemed to stab and crush the adversarial soldiers. If it weren’t so destructive, it would have actually looked rather beautiful.

For a while, Takumi even forgot to shoot, since he was too drawn in by the spell. Leo slightly turned around to him. “Are you fine?!” he asked concerned. The sky had gotten bright again. He looked to the ground, where bodies of soldiers lay.

“Are you in some kind of state of shock, or can you fight?” the blond asked after a while. “I’m okay,” he mumbled more silently than he had intended to. He wasn’t a coward and he certainly didn’t want to make him believe he was, even more than he did already. He could still fight. It was just that he had never experienced magic this powerful from so close and he hadn’t expected it to look so beautiful, either.

Leo carried on riding along the Astral Plane to let him shoot the adversarial soldiers from a distance. The Pegasus forces were so overwhelming that there was almost no way to ever even relax his hand. He didn’t know how long he had already shot arrows, but as he finally shot one of the last Pegasi his fingers started to hurt. That was a bad sign. Perhaps he had overdone it with the shooting.

He could still shoot, but the shots got more inaccurate, which was fatal in this case, since the number of enemies still kept increasing, instead of lowering. Yet still; he couldn’t show any weakness in front of Leo. After all, he kept on casting spells as well, so he couldn’t possibly stop now, just because he was slightly hurt.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a mage that started to cast a spell. He turned around as far as he could to aim at him. However, he wasn’t able to fully aim at him due to his position. Normally that wouldn’t be too bad, but since he couldn’t land as accurate shots as before, he missed. Leo rapidly pulled Melissa around to face the mage, who had already launched for the attack. He shielded them with a rather poor barrier of magic. The spell broke through, injuring his shoulder. He groaned as he turned around to him, while holding onto it. “Are you okay?” he asked. Takumi didn’t answer, but merely shot the mage right away.

Then he raised his hands into the sky again to shoot the last Pegasus. He winced as he felt a stinging pain in his palm. He felt blood running down his sleeve.  
What an idiot he was, graze shooting his own hand.

It should be fine, though. The pain quickly vanished, so he could continue, even though his fingers were still slightly aching. He quickly covered his bleeding hand with his sleeve and looked at Leo. “Yes, I’m fine, but you should be going to the barracks now,” he answered to his question. Leo clicked his tongue as he pulled his left hand up.

He didn’t say anything at first, but merely rode to the back of the Plane, to the barracks, where Elise and Sakura treated the wounded. He jumped down from Melissa, before pulling him down. Then he pulled him along into the barracks. He almost threw him to the ground.

“You idiot! Don’t try to act tough when you’re injured!” he shouted at him. Takumi stared at him asking. “But I can still fight. It’s not that bad. My shots just won’t be as accurate anymore, but if I can aim properly…” he replied, but Leo didn’t listen and just cut him short. “Elise, please treat him,” he asked his sister to, instead. The Hoshidian’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. “Hey, listen to me!” he shouted at him, but the blond merely glared back.

“We don’t need inefficient soldiers right now. You stated it yourself: your shots won’t be as accurate anymore. We can’t afford to lose this combat just because you need to be selfish, Prince Takumi,” he said angrily, before trying to get back outside.

What was he even saying? He, himself, was injured, too. He shouldn’t act so arrogant, when he wasn’t off any better than him. In fact, he was probably worse off than him.

“Leo!” Elise raised her voice. He turned around to look at her asking. She turned her gaze away from him as she started collecting medicine and bandages. “Big words for someone who should stay here as well, while trying to get back into combat,” she noted mockingly calm.

Leo winced, but covered his shoulder again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replied just as calm as her. Elise looked at him form the corner of her eye. “You don’t? Even though you’re covering your shoulder like that? Get away from that door and let Sakura-chan treat you! Now!” she demanded. He frowned and sighed, but quickly did as he was told to by his little sister.

It seemed Elise had an amazing impact on him, even though she was younger than him. He sat down in front of Sakura, who at first didn’t even know what to do. “Uh… would you take off your armor?” she asked. Leo frowned, but did as he was asked to.

Sakura slightly startled as she saw his wound. “It’s deep. How did that happen?” she asked surprised. Leo slightly looked at Takumi, who turned his gaze away and his back at him. Then he sighed stressed.

“It was a stupid action of mine, so it’s not relevant,” he stated as he looked away. The pink haired girl slowly dipped his wound, but nodded calm. Elise followed her example and started treating Takumi’s hand. She chuckled silently. “Now he’s gotten me really interested. What has he failed at?” she asked whispering. The grey haired looked to the ground. He got the feeling that it was his fault that Leo had gotten injured.

“He tried to shield us, but the barrier was too scant to shield him properly,” he told her silently. Elise giggled quietly.

“He really cares for you, it seems,” she stated amused. He didn’t get that feeling, but since it was Elise, who stated it, he probably shouldn’t listen to it too much. He exhaled. “Why do you keep telling me that? I mean, it’s obvious that he doesn’t,” he asked. The blond peeked at Sakura and her brother, before chuckling.

“I think the opposite is obvious. He’s just wording things the wrong way again. That must really kill him, because he likes you so much,” she noted calm. She stopped dipping the blood as she picked up some bandages.

She wrapped them around his hand, before looking back at him. “For example: just now he has told you to stay here, because ‘we don’t need inefficient soldiers right now’, right? Seemed pretty cold-hearted, didn’t it?” she began whispering, so silently that only he could be able to hear. Takumi nodded. Of course it had been cold-hearted, but that was his usual behavior towards him after all. She hugged him closely.

“He’s just worried about you, but he’s always been bad at expressing himself towards people he likes. He’s probably realized how much of a great archer you are, so he doesn’t want you to hurt your hand too much. Isn’t that sweet?” she raved as silently as she managed to be.

“Hey, Elise what are you doing? Treat his hand!” Leo suddenly told her as he turned around to them. The young princess smiled as sly smile, but let go of Takumi. She got up, wandering off to the other wounded. “I did! He’s all better now!” she stated proudly. The Hoshidian prince got up and picked up his Fujin Yumi.

He was about to go, but Leo held him up, still sitting on the ground, since Sakura wasn’t yet finished treating his wound. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked in a strict voice. Takumi snapped his hand away.

“Back into battle. There’s still more than enough to do,” he told him calm. Leo sighed pissed off. “I’ve already told you that they don’t need you there right now. You’re injured, which makes you inefficient as a unit. Just stay here,” he said.

He was no one to talk.   
His wound was way deeper than his own. He had no reason to act so arrogant towards him, since he was a lot worse off than Takumi. “Look who’s talking, Prince Leo! You shouldn’t be spouting those words, when you yourself wanted to go back into combat with an injury worse than mine. Who are you trying to fool here? What’s your problem?” he asked back annoyed. He hated this arrogant attitude about him.

Leo’s eyebrow twitched as he grabbed his hand again and pulled him down to him. Sakura backed off, since he practically fell onto him. The blond pushed him to the ground and held his elbow up against his collar bone.

“Stay here or I’m going to make you by force,” he threatened silently. “Uh… Prince Leo…?” Sakura asked slowly, which made him look at her and slowly let off of him. By instinct he had grabbed his arm, which he had to realize when he slowly let go of him. Confused Takumi got up again. Elise went up to him and sat down next to him. She handed him a cup of tea. “Are you okay?” she asked. He nodded slowly as he took the cup.

For a while, he sat next to her taking sips from the tea, which made him feel more and more useless in this combat. He couldn’t just sit here, doing nothing, while everybody else was trying to save this place that they all could call home now. He wanted nothing more than to go out there and fight alongside the others. He couldn’t believe that he let Leo influence him so much. He wasn’t this kind of person.

“P-Princess Elise, w-would you hand me some of the bandages and the large cotton pads, please?” Sakura asked after a while. The blond tossed her the ones she had used before. Then she got up. “I’ll be looking after the others now. Sakura-chan, don’t let him leave, when you’re finished. Use force if you must,” she asked her to, before going off looking for the other wounded.

For a while his sister stared at Leo’s shoulder, but placed the cotton pad on it. Leo slightly winced as she seemed to press it hard onto the wound. “Please don’t move, Prince Leo,” she asked him to. He inhaled and nodded. Sakura looked up at her brother. “Will you please help me, O-nii-sama?” she asked. Why him? Elise could help her better than he would. Before he could even answer, she tossed him the bandages.

He got up and sat down next to her and in front of Leo. “Please wrap the bandages around his shoulder,” she asked him to.

Takumi exhaled as he looked at his wound Sakura covered with the pad. It already got stained with blood, so it had to have been serious. Slowly, he approached to him and started wrapping the bandages around his shoulder and around the cotton pad Sakura still pressed against the bleeding wound.

Slowly he pulled, so that it would fit better, before continuing. Leo startled, but put his hand on his back and pulled him closer, so that he could feel his breath on his neck. “It hurts, you jerk. Be more gentle,” he whispered tensed. Takumi rolled his eyes and slightly brushed the pad, causing in him to groan in pain. He smiled amused. “Aw~ Does it hurt so much? I’m sorry, but you can relax later. You shouldn’t go out anyway; we don’t need inefficient soldiers out there,” he replied silently.

Actually he wanted to wrap it around his shoulder as fast as he could, but it felt rather good to let him taste his own medicine, so he slowed down a little. Leo glared at him, but quickly pulled him closer by his scarf.

“Pace up a little, or I’ll rip this scarf off your neck. You don’t want your little sister to see the hickey you’re trying to hide so desperately, do you?” he whispered in a dark voice so silently that Sakura couldn’t possibly hear.

The grey haired blushed as he wrapped it around faster. He looked to his sister, whose gaze remained on the pad, but slowly went to him.   
“You don’t need to be so fast; it’s better if you do it properly, O-nii-sama,” she noted. He tried to slow down as little as possible. He wanted to get away from him anyway, but now he wanted it even more.

As he finished, he quickly got a distance to him and gazed at the ground. Leo quickly got up and got up his shirt, making Sakura wince. “Ah! Prince Leo, please don’t go back into combat. You’re injured,” she raised her voice. The blond nodded as he put on his shirt.  
“Yes, I know. I’m not going to go anywhere. I just want to help, if I’m not allowed to leave anyway,” he mumbled, before going off to his sister.

Sakura watched him for a while, but then turned to Takumi. “What has he said to you, when he pulled you so close?” she asked. He blushed and looked away from her. He couldn’t tell her. Like that he could just show her the hickey.

“Nothing important,” he answered mumbling. The pink haired tilted her head. “Really? You started blushing. I thought it was something… alluring?” she stated. He smiled at her. “No. It really was nothing important,” he said, before getting up.

Before his sister could ask more unpleasant question, he should probably help, too.  
He went up to Elise, who treated Charlotte’s arm. She had a pissed off look on her face. “I can’t believe this bastard has scratched me. Please be fast, Milady Elise, so I can get out again and kick this guy’s ass. Argh! I’m going to kill Benny for dragging me here; it’s not even that bad,” she ranted furiously, but quickly started smiling as she saw him.

“Ah, Milord Takumi! You’re here, too? What has happened? You don’t even seem hurt, but I guess your body just heals fast, huh? How admirable,” she said in a suddenly very soft voice. He looked down his arm, but sighed. “I’m actually not hurt. It’s just that Prince Leo and my sister have told me to stay here,” he said as he showed her his hand. She slightly winced. “Oh my! I guess that’s better for you. I mean, you, as an archer, really need your hands. Your surroundings sure are nice,” she stated. He nodded slowly, but didn’t answer. Elise let off of her and smiled.

“All done. You can go back now, Charlotte-chan,” she said. The blond smiled at her, but quickly got up with an equally pissed off look on her face like before. She got up her ax and ran out of the barracks. Takumi bowed down to the young Nohrian princess. “Could I help you?” he asked. Elise looked up with a bright smile on her face.

“Ah, just like Leo? I’m glad to hear that,” she asked happily. He nodded. The blond got up and took him by the hand. “You know, we have to do a lot pretty traditionally, since we don’t have as many staffs anymore, so we have to keep the few that we have for serious cases, don’t you think? But since that takes a little longer, we sure need every helping hand,” she explained as she led him to her brother, who was taking care of Kagero, who had a big wound at her belly. He looked up to her.

She took a bowl that stood beside him. “Can I have this?” she asked. He nodded calm and quickly turned his look away again. She then pulled him along to Effie, who had a rather long bleeding wound on her arm.

“Effie-chan, I found someone to take care of you,” she said happily, before turning to him: “Please clean the wound with an alcohol pad like I did with yours and then wrap bandages around it. The alcohol is in here,” she told him, while pointing at the bowl she had taken with her. He nodded calm, before sitting down in front of Effie. She bowed even before he could treat her. “Thank you very much Milord for taking care of me. I really appreciate it,” she thanked him. He waved reassuring.

“No need to thank me,” he mumbled, while dipping a pad into the bowl of alcohol. Then he started cleaning her wound. She winced a little but remained silent.

As he finished she bowed once more, before going off. He watched her go, while trying to not think of what might be going on outside right now. “Milord, would you like a tea?” he heard Felicia ask. He looked up to her. She carried a tray with five cups of tea, which she wanted to hand to people. He shook his head. If it was Felicia’s tea, he shouldn’t drink it anyway. “I don’t need it. Just give it to the actually injured people,” he told her. She tilted her head, but nodded quickly.

 

Until Corrin came in and announced that they had successfully won the battle, he helped in the barracks. For some reason his body relaxed a lot, when he heard that.  
However, he couldn’t leave Sakura and Elise alone, since now even more people came in with wounds.

He winced as he saw Prince Xander carry in Azura. Corrin followed him with a worried look on his face. The Nohrian crown prince placed her lifeless body in front of Elise, which made him quickly run up to them without even thinking anymore.

As he reached her, he saw that her eyes were open, reassuring him a little. However, she had a deep wound around her stomach, which stained her dress red. Elise looked down at her with a serious expression. Then she turned around.

“Sakura-chan, please come here. I need your help! Bring the staffs,” she shouted, which made the pink haired quickly run to them. She inhaled in shock as she saw her, but quickly the staffs and some bandages.

Azura looked at him smiling, which only made it worse to him. “P-please don’t… look at me like that, Takumi. Y-you never… did,” she mumbled silently. He clenched his teeth, but turned his look away. “Please let me help you somehow!” he asked Elise, who had ripped her dress so that she could take a look at the wound.

“I can’t! You’re not experienced with this, so you would only be in the way,” she said seriously. Takumi looked at her in shock. He should be able to do something; anything! He couldn’t believe that he wasn’t able to do anything. What if she didn’t make it? He looked up to Prince Xander.

“What happened?” he asked desperately. The Nohrian crown prince looked to the ground with a pained expression on his face. “I’m sorry…” he mumbled. That wasn’t helpful at all. She was vulnerable. Camilla or him should have protected her. Azura laid her hand on his cheek, while her smile remained on her face.

“Relax… You should know… how skilled these two are. They’ll be able… to fix me again… It’s my… own fault… for getting into this s-situation…” she said, while her breathing got heavy.  
“Please don’t talk, Nee-chan! Try to breathe regularly,” Elise asked her to.

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, which pulled him up by his collar. He turned his head to Leo, who pulled him along. He struggled as the blond pulled him out of the barracks, but neither did he budge, nor did he even listen to his protests.

“Let go of me! I want to stay by her side! She’s my sister, you bastard!” he shouted, until Leo pushed him against the wall. “Calm down. Stop being so impulsive! She’s going to be fine, so just relax!” he told him in a scolding tone. Once again, he clenched his teeth, but looked to the ground without saying a word anymore. He knew he should trust his sister and Elise, but it was so hard.

Back when Queen Mikoto died, there wasn’t anything Sakura was able to do anymore, either. This whole situation felt so similar to that day…

He felt Leo slowly let go of him. He sighed. “Come with me for a moment. We’re going to visit Melissa; it seems like Niles or Odin has already brought her into the stable,” he said calm as he started walking.

Takumi only slowly followed him, until he grabbed his wrist and pulled him along into the direction of the stable.  
As they got further away from the barracks, they saw Camilla exiting the stable and walking towards them with her head held down.

As she realized them, she paced up a little. Leo quickly let go of him, before his sister started embracing him. She sobbed silently.

“Leo… A-Azura…” she murmured sobbing. Then she started crying. Her little brother laid his arms around her and stroke over her hair. Takumi sighed, but didn’t look at her. He couldn’t bear seeing a woman cry like this. He never could. Since it was Camilla, it was only harder, because she never cried. He only looked at the siblings from the corner of his eye.

Leo led his sister to the wall of the stable and sat down with her. Then he pulled her head on his shoulder, while still stroking over it. She slightly looked up to the grey haired. “I’m so sorry, Takumi-kun. I… failed to protect her…” she apologized in tears.

“It’s not your fault, Nee-san,” Leo said calm. Takumi’s eyebrow twitched. How would he know? She was right with what she said. She did fail to protect her, but he wanted to know how. However, he couldn’t just confront her with that. She was surprisingly sensitive in this situation, even though she seemed so carefree most of the time. He sighed stressed as he sat down next to her.

“I-It is my fault, Leo. We were attacked by an archer, so she jumped from Marzia to shield her. I-I couldn’t even grasp her arm anymore…” she started, before her voice broke up. That sounded a lot like Azura. She has always had a soft spot for animals. Even though Camilla’s wyvern seemed intimidating, Azura probably still cared deeply for her. The violet haired inhaled deeply, before continuing her story.

“The arrow went right through… If Xander hadn’t caught her…” she sobbed. Takumi grabbed her arm. “Don’t say that, Princess Camilla. He has caught her, so there’s no reason to freak out over something that hasn’t even happened. And if not even Prince Xander had been able to protect her, how could you?” he tried to reassure her. It seemed it really wasn’t fully her fault. Leo stared at him in confusion, but slowly started smiling, before quickly turning his gaze back at his sister. She seemed to calm down a little, since her breath got more regular again and she sobbed less.

Her brother sighed, but got up and reached out his hand to her. “C’mon, Nee-san! Let’s go to your room,” he said. She looked up and took his hand, while wiping her tears. Takumi got up as well, making Camilla smile weakly. “Are you going to come along, Takumi-kun?” she asked. He looked to the ground, but shook his head.  
“No, I want to see how Azura is doing,” he mumbled.

Leo clicked his tongue and frowned. “I brought you out here for you to calm down. Have you still not understood that they don’t need you in there?!” he asked annoyed.  
The grey haired rolled his eyes.

“I just want to see how she’s doing. She’s my sister after all. What would you do, if it was one of your sisters? It could have been Camilla in there, if she hadn’t shielded her,” he countered, which made him glare at him. The violet haired, however, started smiling as sincerely as ever.

“Leo, I want to see her, too. Let’s go there instead of my room,” she stated as she pulled her younger brother with her. Takumi slowly followed them. The room has gotten rather crowded. Even Ryoma and Hinoka had come there.

Elise and Prince Xander sat on the bed facing Azura’s, who even already sat up in it. The blond leaned against her brother and had her eyes closed. Sakura, Corrin and Ryoma sat next to her bed, talking to her, while Hinoka stood in front of it, her back facing them as they came in. The blue haired looked at them as they entered. She started smiling happily as if nothing had happened. Takumi almost ran towards her out of instinct. He embraced her tightly, making her chuckle.

“See? I told you they would fix me again,” she said laughing. He only nodded slowly as he pressed her closer.

“I know, I should’ve known,” he whispered. Only slowly he managed to let go of her. Then he sat down next to Elise, who opened her eyes. “We did it! You should really trust us more,” she noted ridiculing. Perhaps he should have. Suddenly, Camilla rushed past him, embracing Azura in a similar manner as him before. She started crying again. Just this time; it seemed like tears of joy.

“Nee-chan… I’m… I’m so sorry! I should’ve… I should’ve taken better care of you. I’m so sorry!” she apologized sobbing. The blue haired smiled embarrassed. She certainly didn’t know what to do; especially because none of them seemed to be able to handle Camilla as soon as she was upset. It wasn’t like that was a trait you could always see in her, so probably not even her own siblings actually knew how to handle that.

Even Prince Xander and Elise looked rather helpless. Leo sighed stressed as he laid his hand on her shoulder.

“Nee-san, pull yourself together. That’s not like you. Smile like you always do. That will make her way happier than seeing you cry. Isn’t that right, Azura?” he said in a soothing voice. Azura slightly nodded, but laid her arms around her back. Slowly, the violet haired let go of her and wiped her tears, before starting to smile at her. “I’m sorry, Nee-chan. I’ll calm down,” she mumbled a little calmer.

Prince Xander suddenly exhaled relieved; as if Leo had solved a huge problem. Then he looked at Takumi.  
“Thank you for taking care of our soldiers today,” he thanked him, which made him look to the ground. “It wasn’t much. I would have been more useful on the battlefield, though, but…” he looked at Leo. “Your brother seemed to dislike that idea.”

The blond gazed at him annoyed. “I’ve already told you, you would have been useless,” he stated in a snide manner. Takumi narrowed his eyes, but stayed silent. He wasn’t the one who would have been useless. A warm hand suddenly touched his, which made him look down to Elise, who winked alluring at him. He sighed, but didn’t reply.

Leo probably didn’t know that they all tried to hook them up with each other, so he didn’t want to bother him with that. “Actually, Takumi is pretty tough. You wouldn’t have had to bring him here. He could have easily continued fighting,” Hinoka stated as she looked at the blond, who merely glared back at her. “Could be, but what would you have done, if his injury had worsened? He’s a skilled archer, but if it had become worse, he would be useless as a soldier. Wouldn’t that be a great shame, Princess Hinoka?” he countered snidely.

Takumi clenched his teeth. He wasn’t as vulnerable as he assumed him to be. Hinoka slowly looked at him. “Are you okay, then?” she asked concerned. Of course he was. Why wouldn’t he? He nodded. “I’m fine, there’s nothing to worry about. If you want to worry about someone, worry about Azura,” he answered. She looked to the ground, but exhaled relieved. Azura giggled. “No need to worry about me, either,” she noted amused.

Suddenly, Hinoka started laughing, which made him raise an eyebrow. She looked at Leo smiling. “You seem to really care for our brother. I’m grateful for that,” she said giggling, causing him to blush. “T-that’s just a natural thing to do, s-since we’re allies now,” he defended himself, making her laugh even more. “Don’t worry, he cares for you, too,” she stated. Takumi blushed as he started looking at her with an expressive glare on his face.

All he wanted to tell her was to shut up, but he couldn’t in front of all these people. That would only make him look suspicious. He winced as he felt a gaze lying on him. He looked up to see Leo stare deeply into his eyes. “Is that so?” he asked rhetorically, which made him rapidly look down again. Hinoka laughed amused. “Sure it is!” she replied calm.

The grey haired got up sighing. “I’m going to go now,” he stated, before turning his gaze at Azura. “I’m glad you’ve made it, Nee-san,” he said silently as he started smiling softly at her, before leaving.  
He walked into the stable by instinct.

Leo wanted to bring him here anyway. He probably knew that Melissa’s presence soothed him. It wasn’t like that was still necessary; now that he knew that Azura was alright, but Hinoka would probably reveal the feelings he had for him in this instant. He started shaking as he entered the stable. He approached to Melissa’s box. She still wore the armor.

Probably Niles or Odin had just put her here provisionally, so that she wouldn’t get hurt in front of the barracks. Slowly he took off the blinds from her eyes, which made her cuddle onto him.

While taking off more and more of the armor plates, he tried to think of a way that wouldn’t make him look too desperate, when he saw Leo again tonight.

Hinoka was certainly slowly but surely ripping his façade he had built up to him apart and since Camilla and Elise were there, too, they would probably only encourage her and help her along with it. It made him feel sick how much of an impact his meeting with Leo had on his so peaceful life.

If only that all hadn’t occurred. He started brushing Melissa’s fur, while trying to find a way to restore his peaceful life he hadn’t valued as long as he had it.

“I thought you would be here.” He winced as he heard Leo’s so familiar voice. Slowly he turned around, while holding onto the horse. “Yes, it’s been a tough day… and her presence calms me down,” he answered as calm as possible. The blond nodded.

“I know. That’s why I wanted to bring you here in the first place,” he replied naturally. He leaned against the inside of the box. Takumi looked to the ground, while continuing to brush her fur. He felt like going, but he couldn’t even come up with an excuse. However, he better should, if Hinoka had actually done what he thought she had. Slowly, Leo stepped closer, making him tense up.

“Please excuse my sister’s rudeness just before. She can be a little over-exaggerating,” he mumbled as he turned to Melissa again. The blond nodded slowly, while leaning back at a wall. “Is that so?” he asked silently. From the corner of his eye, Takumi noticed he had started to smile very peacefully. Melissa neighed as she poked him. Just now he had realized that slowly but surely, he had stopped brushing her.

Slowly he continued, which made her cuddle onto him. Leo chuckled silently as he approached again. “She seems to have grown really attached to you,” he said as he laid his hand on Melissa, which made him realize how close he had actually already been. “I’m almost afraid she likes you more than me,” he noted silently. Takumi blushed, but quickly turned around and pushed the brush against his chest.

“If that’s the case, I should better go, right? I’m so sorry, I didn’t even realize she’s gotten so attached to me,” he said with a faked smile on his face. The blond smiled stressed. “It’s okay. I’m happy she likes you,” he stated, making him raise an eyebrow. Why would he care? Leo started brushing her fur, which made her neigh happily.

Takumi was about to go when he raised his voice again: “You remember the day I brought you to Windmire?” The grey haired turned around with an asking expression on his face. He nodded confused.

“I told you Xander brought me to a small town called Umachi in Hoshido, right?” he started asking. Once more he nodded in reply. “And I told you about the beautiful woman that helped us choose. As for a matter of fact, she even recommended her to me,” he carried on.

Takumi sighed and leaned against the wall. “If you want to tell me something, just do it! I know what you told me; I’m not stupid,” he answered in a hostile manner. Leo chuckled. “Of course you’re not. Well, your behavior reminded me of her and the more time I spent with you, the more I felt like that, even though you can be quite snide and hostile, too. When I walked around the palace yesterday, I saw some pictures of her again, which surprised me; I thought she was just a mere farmer. Her appearance was really different, since back then she wore such simple clothing. On the paintings, however, she always wore beautiful dresses. I asked Corrin who she was and he told me she was his mother; Queen Mikoto,” he told him calm.

His eyes widened. It was his mother he had talked about! The whole story actually just reminded him of her, because she had always loved going to Umachi, but now that was a whole different story. Leo turned around to smile at him.

“You’re reminding me a lot of her,” he stated. Takumi clenched his fists. “Well, thanks. You’re the only one to ever say that. Most people prefer telling me the opposite,” he replied almost laughing ridiculing. The blond giggled. “I can’t be,” he noted amused, which actually only made it more horrible to him.

“Stop this, please. I’m not even her kid. King Sumeragi is my father, but she’s my not my mother. I can’t have inherited too much of her. What exactly makes you even think that?” he asked. Leo sighed. “What makes me think that…?” he rephrased stressed. He had to think for a while.

Then he stopped brushing Melissa and let the brush fall to the ground. He closed up to him.

“After all, she’s raised you as her child, so you must have inherited some traits of her. Moreover, Melissa liked her a lot, just like she does with you. You seem to have a kind heart, even though you don’t like showing it,” he stated.‘A kind heart’… that was something Corrin had of her.

He, on the other hand, couldn’t even trust Azura, even though he knew he loved her as a sister. He wasn’t at all like Queen Mikoto and he certainly didn’t want to hear anything else from an outsider. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. In what way have I given you a reason to think such a thing? You can say that about Corrin or Hinoka, if you like, but not me,” he answered annoyed. Once again, Leo sighed stressed.

“Why not? You don’t like showing it, but just look how worried you’ve been about Azura,” he stated, making him glare at him. Of course, he was worried; he loved her. He just didn’t like admitting that. If he got too attached to her, he might get disappointed. “I’m not like Queen Mikoto…” he murmured silently.

“You seem to have a pretty low self-esteem, huh? How come?” he asked rhetorically after a while of silence. Takumi winced, but vehemently gazed to the ground. He wouldn’t understand why. He hasn’t led the life he has led.

As Leo pushed his hand against the wall, he exhaled and grabbed his collar, before spinning around and pushing him against it instead.

“You wouldn’t understand! You have no idea how it is to be compared to your siblings since the day you were born. I mean, of course not! No one would even think about it, because you’re strong, handsome and intelligent. Even though you’re younger than most of your siblings, you’re regarded highly by your people and the servants, but that’s not how I have lived,” he pressed out.

The blond exhaled. “I sure have not. However, do you actually think I’ve never been compared to my older siblings?” he asked rhetorically. Takumi clenched his teeth.

“‘Ah, Prince Takumi is so small; there’s no way he could ever even scratch his brother.’ ‘Princess Hinoka is so lively and loved by animals. How come Prince Takumi is not?!’ ‘His body is so weak. I can’t believe he’s King Sumeragi’s son’ ‘He’s become an archer? I bet he’s just afraid of combat!’” he rephrased just some of the things he had heard throughout the years. Then he looked up to Leo.

“You’ve never heard anything like that from the people and the servants, have you?” The blond exhaled, but remained calm. “Am I the first one you tell this to?” he asked, which made him wince and his eyes widen. How did he know? He should be asking himself the question why he had told him in the first place. He should have just remained silent over everything. Slowly he looked up to him.

“H-how would you know?” he mumbled silently. Leo giggled as he let the back of his hand run over his face. “You’ve kept your face down up until now to hide the tears that had filled your eyes. It’s just an assumption, but you don’t seem like the type of person to be willing to bother your siblings with your concerns about what the people say. You prefer keeping quiet over things and try to handle everything yourself, don’t you?” he explained.

Why did he know? It hurt that he knew him so well. Of course he couldn’t tell his siblings about any of this. He had been compared to them for a long time already. There wasn’t anything they could do about that anyway. It was something that only bothered him to begin with, so he shouldn’t pull them into this idiotic misery of his.

Slowly he let go of Leo and stepped away from him, but the blond pulled him closer to embrace him. He would have expected him to make another remark, but he remained silent and merely embraced him.

“It’s hurtful, isn’t it? Never being seen as valuable as the others, never getting the attention from the people you desire it from, because there’s someone else they prefer donating their attention to. It hurts, doesn’t it? You never want to feel envious of them, but you can’t help it and that only increases the pain,” he whispered.  
Takumi tensed up.

What was he saying?  
It sounded as if he knew how he was feeling. He couldn’t possibly.  
Wasn’t he highly viewed by everybody?  
Whose attention could he possibly want, when he couldn’t have it?

As Takumi slowly tried to lay his arms around him as well, Leo let go. He smiled calm.  
Takumi winced. Seeing him smile so pained, made it so obvious. He would always smile this smile at his family; at Corrin.

“Corrin,” he mumbled, making Leo startle.  
“You can figure?” he questioned scantly.  
It seemed like the only logical thing. Corrin was probably the only person, who Leo possibly could feel envious of.  
The grey haired bowed as he left the stable.

Thinking of a way out of this situation didn’t work out too well. In fact, everything just got worse. He showed weakness. Again! The whole subject of Queen Mikoto had made everything look so bad, that he couldn’t even be happy anymore about Hinoka having kept quiet over his feelings for him. Just what was he supposed to do now? He hadn’t only shown weakness to him, but also revealed something he never wanted to talk about in his entire life.He hated having that trait of character. He loved his siblings and feeling jealous of them just felt like a huge betrayal of them. Just why would he tell him, too?

While staring to the ground, he tried getting back to his room without letting anyone notice him. He just had to make sure that he didn’t bump into anyone. Probably he looked really disturbed, so he shouldn’t make contact with people now anyway.

When he reached his room, he rapidly shut the door, before letting himself fall on his bed. He curled up like a kitten. He would have liked to just live under a rock for the rest of his life, or just any place where Leo wouldn’t find him. He clung onto his sleeves and closed his eyes. He didn’t even know what to do as soon as Leo came back in here. He had just left him standing, when he had been so honest with him, because he had no idea how to deal with that. The only thing to do was to play sleeping or dead.

After a while he heard someone knock the door. Slowly he got up, before walking towards it with heavy steps. He opened a slit wide to see Oboro carrying a tray, which made him open up fully to her and let her enter.

“Good evening, Milord!” she said happily as she looked around the room. “Oh… Prince Leo is not here?” she asked. He shook his head. “He’s still with Melissa,” he mumbled. As she placed the tray on the table, she turned around to him smiling. “Melissa…? Ah, his horse! You’ve gotten to like her a lot, too, haven’t you, Milord?” she noted. He nodded slowly, but didn’t reply. Suddenly he felt her lay her hand on his forehead. “Are you okay, Milord? You look so pale,” she asked. Rapidly he pushed it away and got a distance to her. “I’m fine,” he mumbled. The blue haired looked to the ground in a gloomy manner.

“Uh… I heard you got injured today, Milord. Are you sure you’re alright?” she questioned. He nodded. She shouldn’t worry about him all the time. He sat down in front of the tray she had placed on the table. It carried two plates with some beef stew and two glasses of water. He looked up to her, making her blush. “Uh… you… you and Prince Leo didn’t appear for dinner, so I thought I should bring the food to your room,” she explained. Takumi smiled peacefully. “Thank you, Oboro,” he said calm as he rested his head on the palm of his hand. “It… it was nothing, Milord,” she mumbled.

For a while she looked to the ground, before turning her gaze back at him. “May I ask where you’ve gotten injured? Is it very severe?” she asked shyly. He shook his head. “It’s not too bad. One of my arrows just brushed the palm of my hand. It’s no big deal,” he told her reassuring. She slightly relaxed. Slowly she approached and sat down facing him. “However, it was a wise decision to go to the barracks. As an archer you need your hand working more than anything anyone else,” she said almost unconsciously. He looked to the side.

“I wouldn’t have. Prince Leo brought me there,” he answered. Oboro winced. “Ah… I see. I think I should thank him then for helping you out,” she murmured. The grey haired nodded as he started eating. Then he looked at her. She was pretty stiff. It wasn’t like that was anything new to him, since her behavior towards him seemed to be a lot different to her behavior towards anybody else. However, she seemed a lot more stiff this time. Slowly she got up. “I’ll be going now. See you, Milord,” she said calm while trying to leave the room. As she opened the door Leo stood in it, looking at her confused as she bumped into him. She quickly got a distance to him and bowed in apology. “Ah… I’m sorry, Milord! I’m so sorry. I should have paid more attention,” she apologized desperately.

Leo frowned, but pulled her inside as he entered. “No, it’s fine. It was my fault. Just stay here for a while. I wanted to talk to you anyway,” he said in a calm voice.  
She slightly blushed, but stayed in the room. It was somehow reassuring to have her stay here, when he was here, too. She remained standing on her spot as the blond walked past her, sitting down in front of Takumi. He looked at the tray.

“Beef stew? Did you get this for me?” he asked him. The grey haired looked up from his food.  
“No, Oboro did,” he said as he pointed at his retainer, who still stood next to the door, while her gaze remained at the ground. She slightly winced as she heard her name and looked at them. Leo turned around.

“Did you know that this is my favorite food?” he asked smiling happily. She nodded slowly. “Jakob told me you like this, so I thought I should get it for you and Milord. I thought he might like it, too,” she mumbled. Takumi tilted his head, but smiled casually. “Yeah, it’s good,” he answered, making her smile. The blond turned around to him. He rested his head on the palm of his hand.

“You’ve got great retainers, Prince Takumi. She’s very thoughtful,” he said smiling. He nodded in reply, even though he couldn’t stop feeling awkward. It was as if his whole attitude had changed.

“Why don’t you just come, sit down here, Oboro? Don’t just stand there,” he asked his retainer to, just to distract himself. She winced, but did as she was told. Slowly she sat down next to him and vehemently looked at the table. He felt rather happy to see her equally stiff around Leo as around him. How surprising. Leo smiled at her as he started to eat. “Your name is Oboro, right?” he asked. She nodded slowly, before turning her look back at Takumi. The blond sighed.

“You don’t really like me, do you? I can understand. I’m very sorry,” he noted, making her startle and stare at him. “About what?” she asked almost mistrusting. He laughed embarrassed and scratched the back of his head.

“I treated you in such a cruel way, when we first met. I’m very sorry about that,” he replied seriously, which made her snort silently. Then she looked at him with a sharp look on her face. “If you want to apologize to anyone, don’t apologize to me, but to Milord,” she answered in a hostile manner, making him scratch the back of his head in embarrassment. “I got the feeling I already have,” he stated. Oboro’s look got even sharper.

She narrowed her eyes, before looking back at Takumi. He looked at his food, but nodded slowly. “Yeah, he’s apologized for taking me hostage and for not telling me what he had in mind all the time I was in Nohr. He’s apologized for everything; it’s okay,” he replied. His retainer’s gaze went from him back to the blond. She looked at him even more hostile now.  
“Why didn’t you? You could have told him,” she stated.

Leo rested his head on the palm of his hand, while his embarrassed smile got even more helpless. “I guess it was to protect him,” he explained scantly.

‘Protect him’… In what way did that protect him? It only made him plan to strike down Odin, when he got him out of the cell. Oboro tilted her head, but slightly got a lighter look on her face. “I see…” she mumbled silently, but then quickly looked up again with a scolding look on her face. “I hope you’ve also protected him from the guards!” she said.

Slowly but surely, the thought of her being stiff around him, too, vanished. She was almost daring, when talking to him.  
The Nohrian’s face lit up slightly.

“I have. Only I have talked to him and brought him food. I never let the guards even look at him,” he stated proudly, which made Takumi snort annoyed. “It wouldn’t have been such a great deal to me,” he answered back. Leo and Oboro both shook their heads, while looking at him almost scolding.

“No, never Milord! I bet the guards would have abused you! I’m glad Milord Leo has taken such good care of you,” she replied passionately, while Leo nodded supportive. The grey haired frowned and rolled his eyes.

He was a man. No one would have abused him. Who would want to take advantage of a man anyway?

He put his plate away, back at the tray. “Believe whatever you like, but no one would want to take advantage of a man,” he answered calm. If Oboro had the feeling that he had been in any possible danger, there was no way he could convince her otherwise. At least, like that she got along with Leo. They would have to spend a lot more time with each other, so that was for good.

The Nohrian prince smiled genuinely at him, making him slightly blush. “I told you already that you’re so pretty that they would have certainly pulled something at you,” he said in a peaceful manner. This time, it was Oboro who supported him with an enthusiastic nod. Then she peeked at him with a slight blush on her face. Her expression got slightly pained, but she said nothing.

Quickly she got up. “I think I should be going,” she said as she collected the dishes. Rashly she more or less stumbled out of the room. Leo looked after her slightly confused, but quickly turned back around to him and smiled.

“She’s very caring,” he stated laughing. Takumi sighed. “Yes, sometimes she might be a little too caring,” he replied stressed. She was a good person, but it was hard to deal with her for him. She always tried to keep a distance to him, even though she was his retainer and they should be close. “She likes you a lot, doesn’t she?” the blond asked after a while. Takumi tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean?” he asked irritated. He certainly hoped she liked him. Otherwise he wouldn’t feel comfortable keeping her as a retainer. Leo laughed amused. “Have you really not realized? She likes you a lot; more than just as her Lord,” he answered. The grey haired narrowed his eyes. “Please don’t say such ridiculous things,” he asked him to, which only resulted in a calm laughter of his. The Nohrian got up.

“Well, telling something like that doesn’t seem to be your strength anyway,” he said, before looking at him.  
“Are you feeling a little bit better after her visit? She has a really soothing aura,” he asked after a while.

Takumi looked to the ground, but nodded slightly. Oboro, after all, had a talent for calming his mind.  
“I’m sorry to have left you standing there and to have assumed you didn’t know how I feel,” he mumbled. Leo titled his head, but smiled softly.  
“It’s fine. I don’t think anyone would be able to know, judged by my behavior. I’m a little surprised you can tell that I’m feeling envious of Corrin, though,” he replied softly.  
Takumi looked at him from the corner of his eye. “It would only make sense. Camilla and Elise always talk about him, even though they should consider paying more attention to you, too,” he answered smiling gently. Leo chuckled. “You think so? I’m glad to hear that,” he laughed.

It was so nice to have such a conversation with him. It felt like a purge. Unfortunately, that only made Takumi fall even more for Leo, since he had to realize that he was the only person he could talk to about this; apart from Azura perhaps.

“May I take a shower?” the blond asked. He nodded unconsciously and pointed at the door facing the entrance. “The bathroom is there,” he mumbled. Leo made an appreciative sound. “I know. I’ve found it this morning as well,” he answered. Takumi slowly looked after him as he entered the bathroom. What did he mean ‘telling something like that’ wasn’t his strength?

What was he supposed to be able to tell? Oboro didn’t like him in the way he thought she did. He sighed as he got up and pulled a book from the shelf. After a short while, Leo came back out of the bathroom, which made him look up, but quickly back down again. He blushed and buried his face in the book. He was being such an idiot, blushing over just peeking at his body.

Almost lifelessly he stared at the pages without reading a word. He should just stop getting so nervous just because of him. He felt like an animal in heat, when staring at him like this and letting his thoughts of how attractive he thought he was win over him.

“Hey, would you like to have a drink with my family and me?” Leo asked casually, which made him look up. However, just like before, he looked back down again. “Huh…? Why?” he asked slowly. Leo turned around to him with a questioning look on his face.

“What do you mean ‘why’? Just for that! Xander, Camilla and Corrin said they wanted to have a drink with me to celebrate that we made it here. It’s thanks to you that we even did, so why not come with me?” he explained almost annoyed. Why would he ask him that? He would only be out of place there. “Why would you want me there? It’s just for you and your family,” he replied questioning.

Leo sighed as he started getting dressed. “Well, I just thought you might want to come as well. Perhaps your brother will be coming along, too. Xander seems to have started to like him. Why not come along? It might be nice,” he stated. Takumi slowly looked up from his book. It wasn’t like he had planned to do anything this evening, but he just didn’t want to spend this evening with Leo.

Plus, he was horrible at drinking. “I don’t drink,” he replied calm, making Leo sit down in front of him and smile. “It doesn’t matter. Just come with us. Corrin was the one to tell me to ask you to come with us, so don’t do me the favor, but him,” he asked him to as politely as he could. The grey haired sighed as he got up. He almost glared at him, but didn’t protest anymore, which made him smile happily.

“Where are we even going?” he asked slowly. Leo tilted his head. “To a little bar in a village nearby a portal Lilith has opened,” he answered scantly. Takumi watched him as he got dressed. The clothing was a lot different from usually.

It seemed so casual that it looked almost surreal on him. It was similar to the one Laslow wore this morning, when they bumped into each other. The blond turned around to him. “Will you come with me?” he asked as he reached his hand out for him. Irritated the young Hoshidian looked at him, but slowly took it.

“Yes, sure…” he mumbled. He opened his wardrobe, looking for something casual to wear, before pulling out a light, silk, blue Yukata with a flower print on it.  
As he was changed, he walked past the blond, out of the room. Leo quickly followed him. They headed to a portal where Lilith waited for them. She smiled happily as she saw them. “Have a nice evening?” she said.

Takumi slightly bowed, but quickly had to catch up with Leo, who had already gone through the portal, after mumbling a silent ‘Thank you’.  
He could have commented on him just running off without him, but he held it back.

They headed to a small village, whose only attraction seemed to be the bar they would go to. Apart from the church it was also the only place where people would be able to get wine.  
As they arrived, Corrin and the Nohrian Royal Family, along with Ryoma already sat together, on a semicircle couch, drinking as if it had never been different.

Camilla happily waved at them. She almost pulled Takumi next to her, before handing him a glass of beer. “I’m so glad Leo was able to convince you to come along!” she cheered happily. He nodded as he looked around.

His brother sat so close to the Nohrian crown prince that it almost looked wrong. They laughed genuinely, while drinking and talking. They couldn’t be too drunk already, but if they continued drinking these amounts of alcohol in this amount of time, that would soon change.

The last time he had accompanied his brother drinking, he ended up holding his hair, while he threw up into a bush outside the town. That wasn’t a nice evening for the both of them.

However, this time he also had his other little brother. Corrin would certainly want to experience his big brother in every situation of life he possibly could, so this time he could leave holding his hair to him.

He put the glass on the table before leaning back.   
Camilla looked at him confused. “What is it, sweetheart? Why don’t you drink a little? C’mon, just a bit,” she pleaded him to as she took the glass and pushed it in his face. He slightly pushed her hand away, but that didn’t hold her up from encouraging him to drink, until Leo pushed the glass down.

“Camilla, please stop it. He said he doesn’t drink, so please leave him alone,” he told his sister, which made her lower her hand and look to the ground in a disappointed manner. The blond sat down beside Corrin and started talking to him. “Aw~… Why? You have to drink at least a bit. You can’t be as boring as Leo!” Camilla almost begged him after a while of having remained silent.

She started to hug him as she pressed the glass against his cheek, while pushing half of his face into her warm cleavage.  
Due to the sudden lack of oxygen, he didn’t even know how to fight back at first. Her arm lay around his neck, which only made it worse to him, since there was almost no way to fight her. He couldn’t just push against her chest.

He didn’t want to know how Prince Xander would react to him, if he saw him touch his sister in such an inappropriate way, so all he could do was push against her thighs. Until he grasped for the glass, she didn’t let go anymore. He took a deep breath of air, when she finally did. Then he leaned back breathing heavily. “Now, will you drink?” she asked happily. If the other option to drinking was suffocating in her enormous cleavage, he would more than happily drink a little. Slowly he took a sip of the beer, before leaning back again. It felt surprisingly good to drink something cold, after the heat he had to suffer from in her breasts.

Camilla cheered as she saw him take the first sip. “Yay! I made you drink a little,” she cheered, before coming awfully close to him. She let her finger run along his chest, before slightly pushing his yukata down.

“Relax a little more. And. Then,” she whispered as she closed up even more. “Just let it happen. You won’t regret it,” she finished in an alluring voice, which made him back off rapidly. He looked at her irritated.

How could she still say that?   
She should have realized, by now, that Leo wasn’t in the least interested in him. He hated to admit it, but if he actually could, he would probably ‘just let it happen’, just like she has said, but there was no way Leo would ever want it to happen. However, slowly he finished the beer, which made Camilla refill it faster than he could even put it away. He let his gaze wander to Leo, who talked happily to Corrin.

He seemed happy… so he really did know how he had to feel. He seemed to love Corrin, but couldn’t help, but feel envious of him, since no one would recognize him as soon as he was around…

Suddenly, he felt two hands on his shoulders, which made him slightly look to the back to Camilla, who rested her head on his left shoulder. She smiled calm. “Aw, sweetie-pie, do you want his attention?” she asked ridiculing, which made him roll his eyes.

He might have been desperate, but he wasn’t that desperate. She shouldn’t joke like that. “Why would I want his attention?! I’m not as keen about him as you might think I am,” he hissed back, making her chuckle. “But you do like him! I knew it!” she answered casually.  
She almost acted as if she had ever had a doubt about that.

She just shouldn’t be so sure about Leo’s feelings for him. Slowly, she pushed the glass in his hands up to his lips. “C’mon drink more. It will relax you,” she said daring. Unwillingly, he took a sip from the freshly refilled glass. He didn’t really like the taste of beer, but slowly he grew used to it. It was still disgusting, but it was nice to feel something cold in this hot and stuffy bar. In fact, it felt so stuffy that it made him feel sick, which only resulted in him finishing every glass Camilla refilled for him. If only he were able to bare alcohol a bit better.

After a while, he looked at Ryoma, who drowsily leaned against Prince Xander. The blond leaned back in the couch, while stroking over his hair. On the one hand, he felt like telling him off, but on the other he was pretty sure that he wasn’t able to form an appropriate sentence anymore.

Camilla refilled his glass once more, which made him look at her. “You’re so cute!” she stated in a soft voice, before leaning over and embracing him. “And sooooo thoughtful. I love that,” she mumbled. She was obviously drunk, but he wasn’t sure how drunk. The only thing he could tell was that she was of the sentimental type, when she got drunk.

Slowly he peeked at Ryoma who now lay in Prince Xander’s arms. “We should’ve done that waaaaay earlier, Prince Xander! How come we haven’t?” he asked as if they had never been enemies. The blond drew him closer, while chuckling.

“I don’t know! We really should have done this earlier, shouldn’t we have?” he replied just as brainless. This man should better take his hands off his brother. It wasn’t appropriate for the two of them to act so close.

They looked almost like a couple. Takumi turned his look away. How embarrassing! His brother shouldn’t act so vulnerable around him and even lay in his arms.

He felt like pulling him away from him and outside so that he could get sober again, but he himself was already way too drunk to even move. How much time had already gone by? It didn’t feel like a lot; just a minute ago the two crown princes hadn’t been this drunk… right…? Perhaps more time had already gone by than expected. He slowly leaned against Camilla, who drank another beer. His eyelids got awfully heavy. He closed them as he got even closer to Camilla’s warm body, who chuckled as he did. She relaxed and drew him close. It felt surprisingly nice to be so close to her.

 

“…-kun… mi-kun… Takumi-kun!”

Slowly he opened his eyes to see Leo in front of him. He looked at him concerned, while touching his cheek. “Are you okay?” he asked.  
‘Kun’… Has he just called him by a ‘kun’-suffix…?  
No… he had to imagine it.  
The grey haired nodded slowly, before looking at Camilla, who smiled softly. She seemed less drunk all of a sudden. Leo pulled him up.

“C’mon, I’ll take you home,” he said silently, before looking at his sister. “I told you he didn’t want to drink. Why did you get him drunk like this?” he asked scolding, which made her smile amused. “He’s cute like that, isn’t he?” she answered avoiding. The blond sighed and rolled his eyes, but didn’t reply. He merely turned to Corrin as he pulled Takumi’s one arm over his shoulder.

“Take care of Camilla,” he demanded more than he asked him to, but he only nodded calm. The Nohrian pulled him along. However, walking has gotten surprisingly difficult. He stumbled several times, which made Leo have to pull him up more and more.

Outside he stumbled anew, but this time the blond let go of him, resulting in him falling to the ground. He drowsily looked up to him as his senses got clearer again. Slowly he crawled to a wall to lean against. He breathed heavily due to the suddenly cold air, but quickly grew used to it. He looked up to Leo willing to say something, but couldn’t. His voice collapsed before he could.

His head was still fuzzy and he felt dizzy. Even though his breath regulated slowly, he felt so sick that he couldn’t even get up anymore. Leo squatted down in front of him.  
Slowly he let his hand run along his cheek. “You really can’t handle alcohol, huh?” he stated, which made him take his hand and look at him begging.

He winced and blushed, but quickly pulled him up. “Try to relax your breath. I’ll bring you home as fast as I can, Takumi-kun,” he told him in a soothing manner. He still used that suffix… Takumi closed his eyes and slightly cuddled to him. Slowly they stepped outside of the village into the little forest where the portal was hidden.

The grey haired opened his eyes as he realized the light of the portal in front of them. Lilith greeted them back.  
“Good… evening…” he murmured, while Leo pulled him along. He closed his eyes again. He couldn’t believe that he already trusted him so much that he would even close his eyes, while he basically carried him to his room.

“Takumi-kun, can you open the door?” the blond asked after a while, which made him open his eyes again.

He drowsily looked at it as he pushed the handle down. Leo stumbled inside and pushed him on the bed.

Takumi grabbed onto his arm so that he had to stay leaning over him. “What is it? Are you feeling sick? Should I help you to the bathroom?” he asked calm. Takumi turned his head, while his hand remained on his sleeve. He slightly shook it.

“I’m… fine… just stay here… please,” he murmured silently. Why was he being so honest towards him? He was such an idiot. However, all he wanted was having him close right now. Leo chuckled quietly as he got on the bed. Takumi let his hands run over his arms to slowly put them around his neck. The blond looked at him pained. Then he closed up; so close that he could feel his breath on his face. It didn’t reek of alcohol; in fact he smelled surprisingly nice. The grey haired closed his eyes, while remaining in this position.

“Takumi-kun, have you fallen asleep?” Leo asked whispering. The Hoshidian shook his head as he pulled him closer to kiss him.  
Quickly Leo snapped away, which made him open his eyes. He tilted his head in an asking manner.

“No good?” he asked frustrated. The blond grabbed his face and squeezed it, which made him wince in shock. “Are you doing this on purpose?! I thought you didn’t want me to touch you ever again!” he questioned infuriated.

Takumi grabbed his wrist to pull his hand away. He turned his head and looked at him from the corner of his eye. “I’m sorry…” he mumbled in reply, before drawing him closer again. However, the blond quickly got a distance to him once more. “Idiot! I’m not going to take advantage of you. You’re way too drunk,” he said in a strict voice as he got up.

Quickly Takumi grabbed his sleeve.

If he already admitted his feelings to him, he could go for all or nothing as well.  
If he only played with him anyway, there wasn’t anything to lose for him to begin with, but he was the only person, who understood him, so he couldn’t let him go just like that.

“I’m not too drunk! Please stay,” he sobbed silently.

Leo sat down properly as he sighed. He let the back of his hand run over his cheek. “Seems like you’ve regained your ability to speak properly, but that won’t do. You’ll hate me tomorrow morning, if you let me touch you and do as I please,” he noted chuckling.

Takumi clenched his teeth. No, he wouldn’t; he was just fine. He just didn’t know how to word his feelings, so he merely tightened his grip around the sleeve. He slightly sat up as he drew him closer again. While his right hand remained on Leo’s arm he slowly laid the other around his neck and vaguely pulled him down.

The young Nohrian tensed up more and more, the closer he got to him. Takumi drew his face so close that their lips slightly touched, but just like before the blond distanced himself. Frustrated he tried drawing him closer, but couldn’t make him budge, so he merely laid his arms around him like before.

“I won’t regret anything. Please just… believe me. I know exactly what I want,” he mumbled.  
The blond pushed him to the bed and violently grabbed onto his wrists. He sighed stressed.

“Stop this, please. Do you want to torture me; because you’re doing a pretty good job at it,” he stated. The grey haired tilted his head and looked at him pained.

Torture?! Did he hate it so much to be touched by him?   
He really wasn’t interested in him. How could he have ever even thought about believing Camilla’s assumptions? She might have been his sister, but she obviously had no idea about him.

Slowly he pushed him away. “Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry to have bothered you,” he said silently. Then he sat up. He pushed him away as he got up. He undid his ponytail and undressed. He changed into the light kimono he wore at night.

“I’ll be going to bed then,” he murmured. He was being such an idiot. How could he have showed his feelings to him when he knew all along that he didn’t like him the same way? He turned around to smile at him.

“Well, thank you for bringing me here safe and sound anyway, Leo,” he said as he got changed and turn back around.

Suddenly, he felt Leo violently grab his shoulder and turn him around. He pushed him against the table. “Just ‘Leo’? What happened to ‘Prince Leo’?” he asked almost ridiculing. Takumi tilted his head in an asking manner.

Was that relevant? He shouldn’t come so close to him, when he wasn’t even interested in him. What an asshole! Who was the one that tortured the other now? He felt him draw him closer by his pelvis. Almost by instinct he clawed into his shirt. Leo pulled his face closer, which made him turn his head to the side. He tensed up.

“I think you mistook me,” he stated silently. The grey haired looked at him from the corner of his eye. As Leo pulled him even closer, he slightly turned his head to him. “It’s okay, if you don’t like me. I just thought Camilla might be right…” he mumbled in reply, making him laugh.  
He let go of him and got a distance to him.

“She really has told you. I was afraid she would. Well, that’s just like her,” he stated laughing. It certainly wasn’t as funny for him.  
Through her and Elise’s encouragement it has probably only come this far.

“I’m sorry. It was stupid of me to think you liked me back. Just forget about it,” he answered silently. Leo closed up to him again. He laid his left hand on the table, while running his finger along his jawline.

“I think we’re talking past each other,” he noted seriously.  
Then he pulled his face closer to kiss him. Takumi’s eyes widened. Just like before, he clawed into his shirt and tensed up. Rapidly he pushed him away. He covered his lips with the back of his hand.

“What are you doing?!” he asked confused, which made the blond laugh. He tightened his grip around his waist. “Didn’t you, yourself, say you wouldn’t regret anything?” he whispered, making him slap him. Leo slightly loosened his grip, but didn’t let go.

“And didn’t you, yourself, say I torture you with my touch?” he countered aggressively to only receive a silent laughter.

“I also said you mistook me, didn’t I?” he replied, before kissing him once more. The grey haired tensed up again, when he felt him grab in his hair. He pushed him on the table, while pulling down the collar of his kimono. Slowly Takumi laid his arms around his neck and pulled him deeper, before opening his mouth. Quickly Leo reacted to him. He tried fighting for a short amount of time, but when he slightly bit his lip, he rapidly stopped. He moaned into the kiss, while wrapping his legs around his waist.

However, quickly he stopped replying and loosened his grip around his waist. “W-w-wait… What do you mean, I mistook you?” he asked stuttering. The blond smiled as he pulled him up from the table. “Didn’t you obviously mistake me just now?” he said laughing as he pulled him to the bed. He pushed him on it.

“When I said ‘torture’, I merely meant that you were being way too submissive,” he noted calm, before closing up. “And I like that way too much to hold back,” he finished chuckling as he pulled down the kimono even more. Takumi winced as he slightly stroke over the hickey and smiled. He kissed him passionately, before he started to kiss and suck his neck. The Hoshidian moaned silently, but quickly slapped his hand on his mouth. Hopefully he hasn’t heard him.

Leo chuckled. “Why so silent? You can be a lot louder,” he stated laughing. The one thing he didn’t want to be was louder. It was already embarrassing enough that he made him moan by just sucking his neck.

Slowly, the blond slipped off his kimono, which only tensed him up even more. He turned his head to the side, while the Nohrian started kissing down his chest.

Suddenly he felt his hot tongue on his nipple. He quickly covered his mouth with his hands to not let the moan escape too loudly. The blond slightly looked up to him, when he bit it. He tensed his muscles and clawed into the bed sheet as he tried to hold his voice back. Leo stopped all of a sudden. He got up and sighed, before grabbing his face. “Don’t be so passive. I want to hear your so calm voice scream and cry,” he said in a cold manner. Takumi grabbed onto his collar and pulled him down close in front of him.

“Make me!” he demanded ridiculing, making him chuckle. He pushed him down, before kissing him. While he did, he stroke over his chest and stomach, before opening the obi. Then he resumed kissing down his upper body to his hips. He grabbed in between his legs, which made him moan silently.  
He still didn’t want to be too loud.

What if anyone was out there?  
They could hear him being taken by Leo. Only the thought of it embarrassed him already.

He winced as he felt his tongue on his thigh. Quickly he slapped his hand in on his mouth. Leo stopped to look at him annoyed. He looked at the floor as he picked up the obi he had tossed there. He kissed him, while taking his wrists and tying them to the bed. Takumi bit his lip so that he would let off. The blond pulled back, while fastening the fetter. Then he smiled a sly smile. He touched his lips, before tilting his head.

“I didn’t know you were the type to bite. I thought you’d be too shy for that,” he stated laughing. The grey haired pulled the fetter desperately. “What’s that supposed to be? Untie me right away!” he demanded aggressively, which only made him push him to the back. He closed up to his ear.

“If you become louder I’ll give it a thought,” he answered silently as he let his lips run down his neck. Takumi’s eyes widened. He merely tied him up to not give him a chance to cover his mouth? But if he gave him what he wanted, he would untie him eventually, wouldn’t he? Then again, Leo was surprisingly sadistic. It was amazing what a sadistic character a pretty face and polite behavior could hide.

Slowly, the blond let his lips run along his thigh without touching it. He tensed up even more.  
What was he doing?  
He kept an unbearably short distance to him. His muscles twitched as he slid his lips down his leg.

Even though he was wiggling so desperately, Leo wouldn’t touch him.  
“L-Leo… please… s-stop this! W-why don’t you touch me?” he asked sobbing. He started shaking, when a moan escaped his mouth. Leo giggled amused as he finally laid his hand on his leg.

“Perfect! I knew you could be louder,” he noted as he closed up.  
“Give me more of that and I’ll remove the obi around your wrists,” he whispered as he kissed him.

Steadily he let his fingers run down his chest to his legs, which he spread. He kissed and licked his inner thighs. Takumi closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. When he got bitten, he moaned in surprise, which made the blond smile triumphant. However, not for long, since he swiftly carried on by sucking his skin there, which made him moan even more. His breath had gotten pretty irregular.

When would he untie him?  
Hadn’t he been loud enough for him already?

“Leo… will you untie me now?” he asked desperately, which made him smile calm. He whistled silently. “Perhaps soon, but I’d like to hear your voice a little more like this,” he answered. The grey haired inhaled pained, but closed his eyes once more. However, he had to open them again, when he felt Leo pull down his underwear, exposing his erection.  
He heard him whistle in appreciation, while lightly touching it. He closed up to his face as his hand remained on it. “Like it so much? Why thank you,” he said laughing, which made him turn his head away in embarrassment.

Leo chuckled, but sunk his head. He lightly started licking his member, making him jolt.  
He clenched his teeth, but couldn’t hold his voice back for very long. When the Nohrian started sucking it, he groaned with pleasure. He pulled the fetter.

It hurt his wrists, but he couldn’t even loosen it.  
The blond slightly looked up to him as he swirled his tongue around his member up to the tip. He lightly sucked in, before steadily letting his tongue run up and down.

He was doing everything so slowly that it only became more painful. Takumi started moving his hips just to get a little more movement into it.

Leo slightly chocked as he sensed his movement, but quickly calmed down and carried on sucking a little faster. He continuously changed his pace. Takumi moaned in pleasure and sensation. For the first time this evening, he didn’t care anymore about anyone hearing him.

Suddenly he felt him stop blowing him, which made him open his eyes. He stroke over his face to wipe his tears.  
Actually he wanted to ask, if he would untie him now, but at this point he didn’t expect anything anymore. The blond spread his legs, which made him tense his muscles and close his eyes. He didn’t want to see his reaction to his wet entrance. He was already so wet, even though he has only been touched and blown a little. That was so embarrassing. All of a sudden he felt being untied.

He opened his eyes to look at him asking. Rapidly he embraced him, making him chuckle as he drew him closer to pull him on his lap. “I thought you would hit me for having you tied up for so long,” he stated amused but laid his arms around him. He certainly had intended to, but couldn’t anymore, since he was finally able to touch him. He laid his head on his shoulder and started kissing his neck.  
Leo winced, but let it happen.

As he kissed down his neck, the blond let his hand run down his spine to his butt. He felt him push one finger inside his anus, which made him gasp.  
Quickly he kissed him and bit his lip. The blond startled, but replied passionately, while slipping another one inside. He spread them, making Takumi moan in pain. He rested his head on his shoulder and clawed his fingers into his shirt.

Slowly he pushed his hand under it and pushed it up to let it run over his back. He clawed his nails into his back as he felt him push in more fingers inside. He groaned in pleasure. Leo pushed them deeper, making him scratch him and moan loudly. Gradually he pulled his fingers out, while whistling appreciative. “You’re doing good, but you’re a little tight,” he noted in a smooth voice.

With shaking hands, Takumi undressed his shirt.  
Shortly he let his hands run over his muscular body, before opening his pants. Leo smiled satisfied. The grey haired pushed him onto the bed, panting heavily. Then he kissed him passionately, while pulling down the pants.

The blond rapidly slid his tongue inside his mouth, making him moan into the kiss. Then he grabbed his arm and spun them around. Quickly he got rid of his pants, while kissing him passionately. He spread his legs, before grabbing into his hair. Takumi looked at him asking.

“Relax. I’ll enter slowly, but relax your muscles,” he informed him with a serious expression on his face. He inhaled deeply as he tried calming his body. However, he didn’t have a lot of time, since Leo soon already slowly thrust into him. He gasped, but moaned with pleasure.

“L-Leo…!” he groaned as he clawed his nails into the bed sheet. In an unbearably slow pace he started moving deeper. Leo grabbed into his hair and pulled his head up. “Sorry… Too fast?” he asked concerned, while moving deeper. The grey haired shook his head and laid his arms around him. He pulled him down.

“T-too slow… go f-faster,” he mumbled, which made Leo tense his muscles and rapidly thrust deeper. He gasped and cried out in pleasure.  
For a moment, the blond had remained like this, but carried on in a way faster speed than before. He rapidly pushed in deep to pull out right afterwards and push back in. He quickly grabbed into the bed sheet to not scratch him like before as he felt him grow bigger inside him, but quickly his hands got pulled up again. Leo held tightly onto his left arm as he slowly laid him around his neck.

“D-don’t let go of me,” he groaned as he thrust in harder. Takumi’s body jolted as he felt him so deep. By instinct he laid his other arm around his back and pulled him deeper. Without even thinking he already almost casually screamed and cried out in pleasure. Suddenly, Leo started moving irregularly fast, which made him scratch his back. Quickly, Leo pulled one of his hands from his back to hold onto it.

Tenderly he kissed him, while moving faster and faster. “Takumi…” he said silently.  
As he heard his name, he instinctively pulled him down to kiss him once again. He seemed almost shocked by his sudden action, but quickly replied. They stopped, when he felt him carry on moving.

“Ah… L-Leo…” he moaned.  
He meant to say more; way more! He wanted to tell him that he loved him and that it felt so good, but all of his senses were drawn in by him. All he could focus on was him; not on what he intended to say. Leo panted heavily as he sped up. He grabbed into the pillow as he pushed in harder. Takumi pulled him down. He embraced him tightly, while trying to calm his breath. “Leo… I’m at my limit…! P-please… I think I’m going to…” he whispered sobbing. The blond smiled.

“Then come!” he demanded, while pushing in deeper. He pulled him close as he came. He cried out in pleasure, before slightly biting into his shoulder to keep his voice in check.  
Leo laughed as he pushed him down. “You’re surprisingly honest. I don’t know if I prefer you screaming, or biting me to keep your voice down,” he stated amused. Then he turned around and pulled him onto him. He pushed his hips down. Takumi gasped and cried out, before he leaned down onto him in agony.

He panted heavily as he laid his arms around him. “I’m sorry, Takumi! Just endure it a little more,” Leo apologized as he moved his hips slowly.

The grey haired slowly started moving as well. All this time, it was Leo to pleasure him. Just a little he wanted to pleasure him, too. The blond gasped as he felt him move. He grabbed his arm, while laying his own around him. Then he started smiling. “Takumi…” he panted. He kissed him. His body jolted as he felt him come inside of him. He clawed into the pillow and loosened from the kiss to cry out in pleasure.

Slowly Leo pulled out and pulled him down from his body. Takumi panted heavily. The blond pulled the blanket over them and embraced him. Steadily he laid his hands around him and pulled him close. “I love you, Leo,” he mumbled as his eyelids became heavier. Leo replied something, but he couldn’t hear him anymore.

 

It was warm. He hadn’t felt this comfortable in a long time. Slowly he opened his eyes to see he was lying on Leo, who was still sleeping. He sat up to realize his arm lay around him. His whole body was still exhausted and aching.

He sighed stressed and looked at him just to blush. He couldn’t believe that they had actually done it. He covered his face in his knees. How embarrassing! He had shown him his most vulnerable side. Heck! He had even said he loved him.

Actually he never wanted to reveal these feelings to anybody; especially not to him. Suddenly he felt a touch on his shoulder and a slight kiss, which went from his shoulders to his neck.  
He winced and turned around. Leo smiled at him calm.

“Good morning,” he said happily. Quickly he turned his face away and tensed up.  
“Good morning, Prince Leo,” he answered silently. The blond tilted his head and smiled amused. “‘Prince Leo’ again? Yesterday night you were a lot more intimate,” he stated laughing, before he pulled his face back at him.

He kissed him, making him blush. “I love you,” he mumbled by instinct, but quickly slapped his hand on his mouth. Leo tilted his head and smiled softly. “I love you, too, Takumi!” he replied, before carrying on kissing him. Only steadily he replied, but quickly got more passionate.

Suddenly the door knocked, which made them startle from their kiss. Leo sighed annoyed, but got up. He wrapped the blanket from his bed around his waist, before opening. Camilla stood in the doorway smiling.

As she saw him, she winced and started screaming happily. “Oh! My! God! You did it!” she shouted happily as she pushed him to the side. She happily observed Takumi, which made him pull up his blanket to cover up the hickeys Leo had left everywhere.

The violet haired whistled and turned back at her brother with a sly smile. “You’ve got a great taste, little brother! But don’t you think you went a little too hard on him?! Look at his body,” she stated laughing. Leo blushed in embarrassment. “Why are you here, Camilla?” he asked tense. She laid a finger on his lips as her smile widened.

“I just wanted to look if Takumi-kun was feeling better, but it seems like you made him feel way better,” she stated alluring. Then she carried on laughing. She approached Takumi to hug him tightly. “See? You just had to let it go! Now we’re family. You have made the foundation for the peace between Nohr and Hoshido,” she raved happily as she hugged him tighter.

Slowly she let go of him and closed up. “Now tell me; how was it? Did it hurt? Has he been nice or rough? I bet he was rough. He prefers showing his true character to the people he loves. But it was great anyway, wasn’t it?” she whispered, making him blush.

She was his sister. Wasn’t it awkward for her to ask these kinds of questions about her own brother? Leo pulled his sister by the arm and back at the door. “Please leave now, Nee-san,” he asked her to. Camilla laid her hand on his shoulder and winked, before closing the door. From outside her voice was still audible. She shouted happily and laughed. Her little brother leaned against the door and sighed.

“Gosh… why did I even open?” he mumbled, before turning his look at him. “I’m sorry about her,” he apologized. Takumi sighed as well and pulled the blanket up.  
“It’s okay. I guess I’m used to it,” he mumbled. The blond sat down on the bed and stroke over his face. Then he pulled him closer.

“I love you. Please be mine from now on,” he murmured silently.  
Takumi laid his arms around him.  
“Yeah…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I could kinda improve their emotional relationship by having them talk to each other about their problems. It's only scant, but I hope it's fine.  
> It might have been a little fast again; I'm sorry.  
> However it was fun writing this. I'm already in the mood for writing more Leokumi stuff. (^__^)


End file.
